Maelstrom's Road
by Margulide
Summary: Gifted with a world where he could be free, a place where he has family, where he could fly... he disappears from his own world, leaving it in the grasp of the one who sent him away, and moves to live out his new life like he always wanted.
1. Road of Awakening

**Disclaimer: I own a copy of Naruto: Ninja Storm for the PS3, and I'm getting the sequel tomorrow. However, other than copies of the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes series that's on the PSP and those soon to be two games for the PS3, I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form. I do hope that Kishimoto would drop me a help basket of maybe… a million dollars or so? If not, well… It is a pretty far-fetched hope that it would happen. Actually, if he gave me rights to the series… that's be cool too. Air gear is Owned by Oh! Great, and Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto.**

'**_Thoughts.' _/ **_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" / **"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

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**- Pre-Chapter Author's Note: -**

I am using a time-line where, Naruto would be 15, with me taking liberties with the timeline. With him failing the Genin exam, where re-takes are yearly, and him attending the academy late, instead of going in at 7, he went in at 8, due to a year-long rehabilitation due to his being sealed. Making it so he almost turns 16 by the end of the Exams. I have no certain date for the Chunin exams, so I'm taking that October 10th would be shortly after the Chunin Exam Finals

**READ ME PLEASE?**

**November 15, 2010** - Note for everyone who will be wondering about when the A/G elements come in. The mentions and happenings of events in the A/G Universe come in at Chapter 3. The part where they finally come together will be Chapter 6.

**November 21, 2010** - It was suggested to me, that I delete or remove this chapter. Mainly because of the different writing style it has, which is in first person, compared to the rest of the story. To be honest, I'd say, just think of this one as a 'pilot' episode for my story. It'll make it go down better. I, myself, believe that at the very least, this chapter had to be in first person. In any case, please give at least the second chapter till you judge. I can handle people not liking the writing style. But to send me PM's because they didn't like the first chapter, and didn't go forth and finish the rest of the posted story... It irks me. So please, once again, read at least to the second chapter before you judge.

**THANK YOU**

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ACL: 4,717 (Actual Chapter Word Length- According to FF dot Net): From and including the words Maelstrom Road to Chapter 1: End.

Posted/Updated: October 18, 2010. ; October 26, 2010. November 3, 2010. November 15, 2010.

Re-Updated: November 21, 2010. New and re-written Pre-chapter Author's notes.

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**Maelstrom Road**

**Ch 1…**

**~Road of Awakening~**

* * *

**- Chapter 1: Start -**

* * *

**- Clearing in the Forest of Death, Chunin Examinations **-

_**September 8th, 163 AFK (After founding of Konoha) Time: Unknown**_

A shout of "FIVE-ELEMENT SEAL!" echoes through the clearing, coming from a snake-like man with a long tongue choking a blond teen decked out in orange by his throat, shoving his hand which was covered in purple flames, up to the teen's belly, where a seal showed.

**-Inside the young man's Mind-**

_Kami, I did good right?_ I ask… then the Darkness comes, as it always does. I hate it… but I love it all the same.

The Darkness protects me, but it makes me lonely… no one ever comes here, except… my… tenant? What's a Tenant?

I know it starts with a K. Konohamaru? –a little boy with a long blue scarf pops into my mind- Certainly not that. Kurenai? –a pretty lady with black hair and red eyes appears in front of me- Nope... –and she dispels- Not that either… Hmm… Ku… Kyu? –the sight of a titanic nine-tailed fox appears inside a cage- Yeah… Kyuubi.

Kyuubi's not here at the moment. I'm still alone.

I can't think straight… and my head hurts, like it always does, like something's stopping me from thinking

I come to every once in a while… I'm in a dark and wet sewer, and even then… It's filled with darkness.

I love the darkness, there's no truth or lies to be seen, only me and every once in a while, Kyuubi. And no-one to lie, or hurt me anymore. But I'm strong, right? I ask out loud… but Kyuubi's not here to answer me.

*Thunk* _Wha-?_ I turn to the noise… and stop at the sight of the light caused by these weird symbols… that are going away…

**- A cell inside his mind -**

Is this the time? Would I finally be free to leave this horrid place? The seal disappears, and I see across the wall, which was slowly disappearing, a teen… that looks like me. No, he is me… my other half. I chuckle… so the seal is undone? I'm glad… I don't have to be divided anymore. We lock eyes with each other, and his widen in recognition… and then Pain comes, excruciating pain, yet I'm glad, like two parts being put back together. I remember now, most of it… but I'll have to sort it out …

* * *

**- Flashback –**

_**August 26th, 155 AFK (After Founding of Konoha); 5:43 P.M.: Naruto, Age: 7**_

(whenever I see a fanfic that has a flashback to Naruto being younger, I see him usually running around at the age of 6… what's it about the age of six that appeals to writers? In any case, I think that it's funny like that)

"KAA-San!" I hear someone scream… and then I realize that it's me as a child.

"Run! Run home, Naruto-Chan! And activate the Seals!" MY mom yells. I try to run, but am knocked down by something heavy… and I hear the words "By the order of the Esteemed Council, Kushina-san, you are to be put to death, so that the demon child could be to be sent to Danzo-Sama for the betterment of the Leaf."

The weight is knocked off of me, and next thing I know, I'm in my mother's arms, running through the rooftops dodging the projectiles that are being shot at us. Strangely enough, now that I'm reviewing this now, I see that there's no one around other than our attackers, and it's only the afternoon… it must have been a setup. Then I hear my mother whisper "Naruto-chan, know that I will always love you. I'm sorry that we weren't able to leave together, I hope you'll be able to eventually." before she puts me down in front of the door to our house. She then turns back, and the world is filled with a bright light and heat as an explosion occurs right in front of us. I quickly fly into the wall right beside the door of our home, and I see her bleeding, and surrounded on all sides… Turning towards me with a smile, she lifts up her hand, holding a stack of Uzumaki explosive notes before the whole block goes up in flames, and I knew no more.

Next thing I hear are voices… as I lay on a stone surface…

"Please do this for me, Inoichi-san… I could not have him turn against the village… could not have him leave or attack the citizens. He's too powerful for his age." Said an old, sorrowful voice that I immediately recognize as Sarutobi. "Erase his memories of his training and his mother… all of them."

"All of them? Says a voice I assume to be Inoichi's "But that could destabilize him, and cause the release of the Kyuubi, or the takeover by the Kyuubi! Not only that, but his brain functions would be reduced to a very young age, without his experiences, as well as the fact that it may reduce the amount of his brain that he could use!"

"What if we instead, seal his memories away? Edit some of them? This way, he would be more loyal to the leaf. I can have Teuchi work as someone to care for him. I understand that his wife has recently died, and he needs to care for his daughter… this could work to Konoha's advantage."

I try to scream, and rage at them, but I can't do anything. I can't move, ugh… I've probably been restrained, sedated or more...

"I'll do this, but note that, as a Yamanaka Mind-healer, and as his Parent's friend, I have no wish to do this. But I fear what would happen should someone else do this."

I lay there, dreading the seemingly inevitable end and smile sadly. _I'm sorry, Kaa-san, I wasn't able to escape. I hope that wherever you are, you're happy and that Rin-Obachan is there with you._

I hear movement and the feeling of brushes and ink on my skin.

Then, all too soon, my memories flash in front of me, before they disappear into the darkness, all of my memories of my mother, of my training, the Uzumaki seals… my taijutsu that the Uzumaki created specifically for the Kyuubi's Jinchūriki, and all of the other things… the love, affection and my memories of auntie Rin before she disappeared last month, right as we were finalizing our plans to leave this horrid village.

And I hear a last... "I forbid the clans from interfering at this point…. We cannot have other countries know of our weakness… we cannot have not only the disappearance of the last Uzumaki and their seals… but we cannot have Iwa or Kumo learn of his heritage from his father." From Sarutobi.

"So if the clans were attacked, would this be the same way you treat our survivors?" a voice states calmly.

"NO! You cannot do this; you are going to curse his life!" a different voice shouts out.

"No! You listen to me, I am your Hokage, and I shall have final say! Or shall I have something happen to your all of your family or friends?"

_Hehe… everything for the Greater Good, eh, Old-Man? If only he showed that backbone to the old, retarded bandage head and his political allies._ And once more I descended into the darkness.

I laugh bitterly at the memories of when it all started. _Sarutobi, you old coot, you did this… _-a vision of a boy in an orange jumpsuit being hit by a pink-haired bitch- _so you could have your weapon_ – a vision of his fight with Orochimaru in the forest- _a loyal shinobi to the very end_ –him yelling out that he would be Hokage; him in the Chunin Exam room in front of Ibiki yelling out his dream-

Hahaha, come to think of it, had that sealing not have happened, I could have been at least a Tokubetsu Jonin by now. Could have been, being the key, but it's too late, time to face the music… And the darkness once again, I need to go through my memories and reorganize my thoughts… I need to finish this. I promised my mother and my aunt that we'd leave. And I never back down from any challenges or promises… those that weren't made in duress, anyways.

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**- Flash Back End/Time Skip to Current Day: Naruto, Age: 15 -**

_**Chunin Exams -September 8th, 163 AFK (After founding of Konoha): 12 hrs. 25 minutes, and 30 seconds after contact with Orochimaru. 49 hours, and 42 minutes since memories and mind-connections have been unsealed, and started re-calibrating, in Mindscape Time.**_

I smirk. This is great. I chuckle darkly, Konoha won't know what hit them… and it's all thanks to Orochimaru, and his Five-Element Seal. Lost in my thoughts, I hear a shout of "Zankūha!" and piercing shrieks that threaten my sanity and my eardrum's safety. Wow, that sounds awfully like that banshee, but it's not loud enough. Maybe she'll die, and I can leave, not like Sensei-teme, and that Uchiha-teme would even notice. Sadly, it does not come to pass, nor does Sasuke let her die. Hm… guess he's not that heartless, I still say he's gay, but then again… they're fangirls. I know I wouldn't touch them with a fire jutsu, though a fire jutsu has some merit… but the ashes would be everywhere… ugh…. Too much of a downside to that plan. However, at a lack of comforting words coming from him, I realize I made an oversight. He's only saving her to have a chance at further passing this test. With her gone, we wouldn't even pass this portion of a test; guess he does have half-a-brain after all… More than I had myself before the Oro-teme helped me out. I shudder at the implications… at the help or the amount of brainpower that I had possessed, I don't know, but they both scare me.

Thinking back now, and leaving my 'teammates' to their fate, Inoichi's actually pretty cool, he set the seal up so that I was allowed out completely… well, kinda… when danger was imminent, allowing 'other' me an exponential amount of brainpower that I would usually have… with the seal. Saving me from Zabuza, Zabuza, Haku, and the Oro-teme… wow, I've had that much trouble already in the 2 months of being a ninja… aaah… I need to get a new occupation… maybe when I finish the Chunin exams? I don't like doing things half-way… usually… sometimes…. If it interests me and if I'm in control… hehe. I still hate him though.

To be honest, I'm not sure to whom and why I'm rambling… I guess it's because I've been cooped up so long, and I just feel like running till my legs fall off... metaphorically, of course, yeah… legs… new tangent… Kurenai-sensei has amazing legs, so does that crazy snake-lady proctor chick… moving on, legs… limbs… and I feel out if there are any more seals that are on me. Hmm… the Five-Element Seal got rid of everything but the Shiki Fūin with the attached storage that my mother modified it with, as well as my resistance seals; rather than the so-called gravity seals that people use to rip someone off, which, sadly, I experienced in my time as a dunce.

Contrary to popular belief, gravity seals only increase the effect of gravity in relation to either one of two places… the gravity of the planet itself in relation to the area that the seal affects, or to the seal itself. So unless a field or area has a wide-area gravity seal, increasing the effort that it takes for physical actions to occur in the immediate area, gravity seals, as a whole, when applied to the body, do not help in physical training. However, if someone has a portable seal carrier/generator, if any are left from the olden days of Uzushiogakure no Sato… then it would be possible to use a gravity seal, although jumping-jacks, while a gravity seal is in place on the torso, and between someone's legs has some promise….

Moving on though, resistance seals help with bettering the reaction time, as well as speed and strength of the user. It decreases the amount of reaction time of a person who has the seal upon them to react, due to not only the slowed movement of the appendages, but also the reduced rate of the actual signals entering and exiting the appendage, causing a faster and decreased reaction time. Set at an increasing difficulty, the reactions of said person with the resistance seal would be reduced to specific percentage, which was at 73% for me, although for a normal person, the safest percentage would be at around 88%. All of this was possible as my regeneration factor would eventually compensate for the slow signals by causing the nerves to be able to send nerve messages faster, and then when the areas are used to it, the seal would readjust the amount of resistance to make it back to said percentage. As for how the seals increase speed, without any resistance at all, the amount of force that was used when the seal was active would naturally be higher than a person's who did not have that seal in the first place this applies to strength training as well. Therefore, if someone did have that seal, and eventually dispelled it, the force that they could produce with those limbs would actually increase not only speed, but their hitting power.

Provided one has sealing capability rivaling, or even touching the same plane as an Uzumaki, and considering that I've been sealed for at least 8 years, and the resistance seals being applied a year before that, the seals would have made not only my reactions, but my actual movement very, very fast. All of this is only compounded by the fact that when just thinking, my thought processes progress at 4 thoughts/second instead of 1 thought/second that would occur in real time; and while in combat, would fluctuate between 1.5 and 3 thoughts/second... data which would be based upon my seven year old self. Not only that, but if i go inwards, actually pushing myself deep into my thoughts, and appearing in the *shiver* sewer, I can spend hours where outside, only seconds have passed. Otherwise, it would have been disadvantageous for me to have the seals for so long. Haha, this is laughable, Sarutobi pushed the limits with me, causing my body to be better than before. Not only is my body fast, but my mind as well, no wonder I was only fairly strong, but slow, even with the amount of physical training that I put myself through. Any and all strength and speed that I gained in a sealed state would be dramatically increased once the seals were deactivated, which Orochimaru took care of for me. I do have to thank Sarutobi for this one little diamond in the rough.

Meanwhile, the fights have ended, and Shikamaru and Choji were in the process of 'waking me up.'

"Shit…" I say out loud, causing them to jump back in surprise after I sit up and hit my head on the tree trunk. Hmm… I need to regain better coordination; hopefully, we make it to the tower quickly enough for me to get ready for the third round. As well as getting rid of this Five-Element Seal in time for the matches… why? When I wish to quit being a ninja for this pathetic village? Because it'd be too suspicious and I cannot leave if I'm watched constantly.

"Teme, Sakura-chan," I cringe at my deigning her as any form of female, and one of affection, "We should head to the tower," I say, holding up our heaven scroll that I kept safe from Oro-teme. "With that earth scroll from the sound team, we could make it and rest for a couple of days before the end of the second test." At this I receive blank looks and blinking eyes in response, causing a tick to form on my forehead. "C'mon! Am I not entitled to being calmly angry every once in a while? Especially after at least two near-death experiences?" they all turn away… heh, way too easy.

"Let's go" Sasuke states, and we set off for the tower.

* * *

**- At the Finish Line. 'The tower in the forest' -**

_**September 8th, 163 AFK **__**(After founding of Konoha)**__**- 12 hrs. 25 minutes, and 30 seconds after contact with Orochimaru;**_

We reach the tower only two hours after we leave the other teams at the clearing, surprisingly being able to reach the Tower without fighting anyone, and me getting used to movement with my current speed. With 52 hours left in the test... team seven made it to the board, and used the scrolls, receiving a puff of smoke that would usually resemble a bunshin, or a form of Shunshin...

"Damn it... its Kakashi-sensei." I state, clearly pissed off at this point, glaring at the blank spot.

"I guess we wait?" Sakura replies.

"Hn." at this, both Sakura and Sasuke turn to me and stare in unison. "Che..." i say as I turn away, noticing a flicker of movement from the corner of my eye, before my eyes widen and a clear, resounding "Fuck!" fills the room as I throw a kunai at the corner.

"Maa, Naruto, no swearing!" Our sensei states, twirling my kunai at his fingertips. Dammit... It's just one of those days.

"Can I go inside now?" I say. "I want to get the feel of that Oro-teme and the emo out of my skin!" I shudder. In addition to that, I can't have that seal blocking my healing abilities. It's faster with the Kyuubi's potent chakra in my system. In fact, the healing Kekkei Genkai, along with the larger amount of Chakra that I possess is hereditary, from not only my father and my mother, though only partially, It was because technically, not only am I my father's and my mother's child, but It's as well. Kyuubi altered a couple of genes while I was an embryo, as I learned from my mother, that they had long chats in the sewer that my mind resembles, accelerating an ability that would have taken generations to cultivate to perfection, simply because of a fear of death. Hehe, Voldemort... flight from death... some pansy probably made that his name because he was an emo... - a vision of a man with a snake's visage flashes in front of me - fuck that.

So yes, indeed, not only do I have increased regeneration, but I learned the sealing arts from my mother and the remains of the clan archives after Sasori brought Uzushiogakure no Sato down to its knees because of their overspecialization and lessened numbers due to other countries' fear of their arts. But the increased chakra that the Uzumaki are more known for than their sealing is multiplied because of the desire of the Kyuubi to have a 'decent container' since my mother could probably not take the strain of reabsorbing its chakra. I'm rather glad that they set upon a correspondence while mother was its jailor. Sadly, I only inherited a faster analytical mind from my father, instead of his Kekkei Genkai, which was teleportation. Thought of as an ability born from his sealing skills, which were sub-par compared to the Uzumaki clan as a whole, they existed in his genes, very similar to a Kekkei Genkai called Swift Release. However, the technique required a large amount of chakra, which, though he had large reserves, would only allow him to use his Kekkei Genkai only a certain number of times, before he quickly became exhausted. That's what he used the kunai for, not only making it easier for him to target where he wanted to teleport, but to store a huge amount of chakra that he could use, receiving lots of help from my mother. Chakra he didn't have, that I have in spades, even with the 5-pronged seal... although my chakra's regeneration rate is a trickle, compared to the rampaging rapids that they once were. I did inherit his body's resistance to high-speed movement... I grin inwardly.

Finished cataloguing my thoughts, I turn back to the outside and find that I'm left alone... typical. I really hate this team... and the fact that I keep spacing out. Oh well, people won't be watching me... I head off in search of a room to use the Five-Element Unseal. Eventually reaching the 5th floor I finally find a circular room filled with desks, and no one occupying it. This room would do perfectly. I close the door and jam it with a camouflage-Genjutsu seal, showing a wall in its place and preventing the room from being seen unless someone has been specifically looking for this specific room and successfully dispelled the Genjutsu, as well as placing a barrier seal in front of it. Turning back to the room, I proceed to take off my shirt and jacket... I really need to get a new jacket. I love the color orange, but that... makes me sick. Not like the rest of the rookie teams do better, with banshee in all red, the Uchiwa in white and blue, the Yamanaka in purple, and they tell me I'm wearing colors that don't blend in.

Back to the process of unsealing... it's not a good idea to drift off and not pay attention when dealing with sealing. Period. *Cue Sweat-drop* Shit. Well, at least I didn't start it yet.

Anyways... even with this amount of control, I should be able to…

Outside the room, a muffled "DAMMIT! That burns!" resounds throughout the hallway.

*cough*

Well, there are other ways around this seal. Finding some sealing paper and ink in some of the desks, I methodically finish the seal that would finally release me from my bondage! Looking outside at the sight of the sun rising higher, I proceed to unseal this pain in the ass. With a complete lack of smoke, flashy lights, and awesome effects, the deed is done. Sealing is perhaps the greatest ninja art, followed closely by Genjutsu, it can do anything, and you can't be detected 90% of the time, so theoretically one could say that 'Ninety percent of the time, it works EVERY time.' Hehe, now that I'm free to take this shit to the next level, I can-

*Whump*

I land sprawled on the floor, oblivious to the shouts of concern in the hallway pertaining to the lack of a room that that they know is there, but isn't.

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-** 5th floor, 'Tower in the Forest' -**

_**September 9th, 163 AFK (After founding of Konoha), 10:00 A.M.**_

"Ouch, what hit me?" I ask myself aloud.

"I'd like to know myself," a silky, sexy voice asks me from behind, prompting me to jump and turn around at the same time, hitting my head on the desk.

"FUCK!" I hiss. This day could clearly not get any better, and it wasn't even close to being over yet. Rubbing my head and seeing the perfect vision of beauty… Kurenai Yūhi, the best Jonin, in my opinion, that exists in Konoha.

"U-uh… w-well," I stutter. Dammit, here's my chance to impress her, and I'm ruining it.

"I'd like to know if you would happen to know who put that Genjutsu on the door, it was very good, and nigh undetectable." She calmly asks, ever the epitome of grace and beauty. Quickly shaking my head of such romantic thoughts, I turn back to the conversation.

"Well… I did" I state, and receive a raised eyebrow in response. "Here, let me show you!" and I quickly draw the same seal that I created earlier, and show it to her.

"Fūinjutsu?" she asks, impressed yet skeptical. I can't blame her, after how I was, I would be too.

"Look!" I say as I slap it onto the door, and activate it. The door disappears, and in its place, a seemingly seamless wall stood. "Ta-Da!"

"I'm impressed." And truly, it seemed that she was, and I blushed at that… receiving praise from my crush. She was a teacher in the academy that taught my class sometimes, and treated me fairly… Kurenai-hime just turned 24, earlier this year, and was already widely known for her skills in genjutsu. "I didn't know you had such a skill-set, Naruto-san."

"Umm, yeah, well- I've known about Fūinjutsu since I was very young. My kaa-san taught me before she died." I say softly, still affected by the event.

"I'm sorry for bringing up such painful memories."

"Nah, they're not painful, they're… all I have left."

"All you have left?" she asks, worried.

"Of her! I'm perfectly fine, though." I try to draw her off that course of thought. Even the slightest amount of suspicion can throw my plans, not that I planned any yet, into the dumpster.

"You sure? Well, in any case, would you dispel your seals, there are people who couldn't get in here to work today and they asked me in case something malicious was occurring."

"But, aren't they ninja? They should be able to do something like that on your own."

"Sadly, these days, the only seal-makers other than Jiraiya-sama are the ones who sell explosive tags and storage seals." That threw me off for a loop, and then I realized that it was a very plausible occurrence. With the disappearance of the Uzumaki, no one would be learning from them, or their works, and Jiraiya was already old, himself. With my father dead, there would be a decreased interest in sealing methods, at least in Konoha. "I hope that you can put those skills to use for the village, Naruto-san."

"Oh, well, can you keep it a secret, at least for now. I was training in here earlier, and I didn't expect to become so exhausted." I ask her, earning myself a raised eyebrow in response. "I've gone long enough without showing my skills and I wish to show them at the finals, no more and no less." I chuckle inwardly, yes, I will, in front of them, as I tear their precious 'geniuses' apart. Outwardly, I give her a bright smile after I get a nod of assent from her.

I give her a bow, as we head out of the room. "Thank you for your confidence and your silence, Kurenai-sensei, I hope that your students make it to the finals." At that, I turn and remove the seals from the door, and walk away. It was time to formulate the plan that would get me out of this place. Death would be a welcome embrace, but I promised. I would not fail.

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**- Chapter 1: End -**

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"Whew… well, that was nice?"

"I dunno, dude whadd'ya think?"

"Could use some Worcestershire sauce… or some A1."

"Point taken. One could always use more A1. Sadly, I'm not getting any money for stating that A1, which is henceforth referred to The Sauce of the Gods, is the greatest condiment in the world."

"… It seems that you're either strapped for cash, or you're an A1 junkie…"

"Is it really that noticeable?"

"Yes. Your shameless promotion of The Sauce of the Gods shows how much you need your fix."

"Fix. Riiight… in any case, off to the author's note. Now hand me some A1 to go with my rice and chicken."

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**- Author's Ramblings/Notes -  
**

This is my first story that I'm posting up on site. In any case… in the process of writing this story, I noticed how woefully inadequate my writing skills are. I mean, sheesh, this thing is only about 4.6k words, and I'm already tired of sitting here and typing it up from my notes. The stamina and the effort that goes into those 'big name stories on … you are godlike, and know who you are. And I wish to be able to match at least half of your writing prowess. Not that I ever put any of them down or anything, but I actually do get impatient sometimes with how long some people take to update… so Kudos to you guys with the 100k word stories. You are my inspiration, and give me hope that I can do something like that eventually. I now understand, and have achieved nirvana as I eat this rice, sprinkled with A1 Steak Sauce, with a side of Chicken.

As for the Title, I'm not quite sure, whether to make Naruto's actual road the 'Maelstrom Road,' however, I think it's a decent title, but if someone comes up with a better one that I might like, please, send me a message for it. In addition to that, if anyone can read the symbols there... hopefully they're the right ones.

In any case… Yeah, originally, Naruto was 14, well I think he was, until it was ret-conned to him being 12… I started reading the manga when it first came out. :P AGES AGO! But, yeah, the AG universe characters are around the ages of 15, with the members of the Original Sleeping forest at around late 20-ish. Therefore, I had to have some way for him to come out in one of their age ranges. I'm not completely sure yet where I'm going with this story, as in when in the AG Universe I'll have Naruto pop in, whether back in Orig. SF times, or when Ikki and his merry band of retarded misfits. Just Kidding. They're all awesome. Except Onigiri, I HATE Onigiri, no matter how hilarious he is. However, he was pretty damn cool in the latest chapters 290-291 So less hate for him of late. But yeah. I'll be going where the Muse takes me… hopefully to bed? Well, it's not that late yet.

As for the date, I set the date at around 163, without specific ages for Hashirama and Tobirama, and ages from Sarutobi and Tsunade, I pretty much fudged numbers around for an actual date. Therefore: After Founding of Konoha. Sadly, I think the whole wanting to have an actual date and time would bite me in the ass later on… but we'll see what happens.

In accordance to the way that Naruto would enter the AG Universe… I'm only having trouble assembling not only his Road, but a pairing, if any, as well. And as for when, out of three points in the Naruto Storyline he would leave. Here, I'm thinking of scrapping the going after Sasuke arc, because of the fact that he would meet Tsunade and be further conflicted on whether to go or not. Bonds are important… especially in the bedroom. *smirk*

As for whether or not I continue the story in first person… well, I'm still trying to get the hang of it. Hopefully, next chapter would give people a sounding board on how I should progress.

But yeah, please review… this is my first story, so I want to get the kinks out of the way, before I go full steam ahead with the story. Most questions would be answered, and critiques and criticisms appreciated. I do apologize for my liberal use of commas, ellipses and howevers, It's the way I write though... DAMMIT!

Anyways. I'm trying to learn, so if there are flamers… just... keep it light, ok?

This is Margulide, signing out.


	2. Crossroads

**Disclaimer: I own a copy of Naruto: Ninja Storm 2 for the PS3… and it frickin' rocks! (and Lars from Tekken does as well... I don't have him unlocked yet, but I will... eventually.) Sadly, I do not own the Naruto franchise nor the Air Gear Franchise… which I believe I forgot to mention in the first chapter. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Oh! Great, respectively.**

'**_Thoughts.' _/ **_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" / **"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

* * *

Mini Author's note before the Chapter... I have cleaned up a bit of the first chapter... namely my disclaimer, and these Update dates on each chapter, as I hate it whenever I read a story, stop reading it, and can't remember when I last read it, prompting me to re-read most, if not the whole story. It's not bad, but it's annoying :P.

Other than that, It's pretty much cut and dry. Most, if not all questions would be answered, if asked. A side note, I know that they spell the Nine-tailed fox as Kyubi, however, I'm fonder of the Kyuubi spelling, so I'm taking liberties with using it. Any complaints can be shoved in the trash, as it's only one letter. If it helps, he could be the Kyubi no Yoko, but his name is Kyuubi? Whatever floats your boat.

* * *

ACL: 6,816 (Actual Chapter Word Length- According to FF dot Net): From, and including, the words Maelstrom Road to Memories: 01 End.

Posted/Updated: October 21, 2010. ; October 26, 2010.

Re-Updated: November 3, 2010. Just changes to the breaks.

* * *

**Maelstrom Road**

**Ch 2…**

**~Crossroads~**

* * *

**- Chapter 2: Start -  
**

* * *

**- On top of Tower 44, in Training Ground 44 (Forest of Death) -**

_**September 9th, 163 After Founding of Konoha. 11:24 P.M.**_

Two figures on top of the tower in the currently tranquil forest. One, a red-haired boy carrying a gourd on his back, wearing clothes befitting one of the ninja of the sand village. The other, a blonde teen wearing a black shirt, and orange pants, with an orange and black jacket currently tied around his waist. (Think his Naruto Shippūden outfit, and height. The other characters, however, would still be in their pre-time skip clothing, and would still be age 12, as in canon. This change of clothing would be due to him being older than the others, thereby having a slight change of taste.)

"Have you come up here to kill me?" the blond asks the redhead, shifting his eyes over to the other boy.

"Mother does not want your weak blood."

"Hehe, is that so? In that case, come and sit with me. It's been a while since I've just sat down and looked at the sky."

"Hn."

The blonde demon container chuckles at his reply. "I don't know. I just want to see the sky. It calls to me, telling me to fly. If I could, then I would be able to leave, and go wherever I wish. Free and uncaring, carried by the wind." He states as he stares at the night sky, void of any clouds, and only filled with stars and the full moon. "The sky is beautiful tonight… don't you wish you could fly as well? And leave all of your troubles behind?" Naruto asks, throwing his hands out, seemingly trying to embrace the night sky.

"I… don't know. All I want to do is to prove my existence." The redhead states uneasily.

"I see, to each his own I guess. In any case, pull up a seat if you want, there's more than enough space up here for both of us." He says, sitting down on the edge of the rooftop.

Receiving nothing in reply, both stay on the rooftop, just staying there, silent. Eventually, Naruto gets up and walks off, "See you later, Gaara," he says, walking away and waving his arm good-bye, and his other twitched once as he descended the stairs.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you will prove my existence." the Ichibi's container chuckles darkly to the now empty area, his sand having blocked a kunai that the blonde threw as he was leaving. The kunai being an inch from his head, the ring being the only part still held by the sand. "Mother will enjoy your blood."

* * *

**- Outside Team Seven's Room in Tower 44 –**

_**September 10th, 163 After Founding of Konoha. 1:00 A.M.**_

Naruto walked slowly down the corridor, stopping beside the door. "What do you want, Sensei?" he asks to the seemingly deserted hallway.

"Naruto, why are you out of bed?" Kakashi asks nonchalantly, as he revealed himself.

"I can't take a late night walk, Sensei?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.

"I just wanted to make sure that you would be ready for the Finals Tomorrow." He says cheerfully.

"Like you taught me anything to be ready with." the Kyubi Jinchūriki scoffs, opening the door, and attempting to walk inside to get some much needed rest. Quickly, the silver haired man grabs his shoulder.

"What do you mean by that?" he asks angrily, his lone eye narrowed at his student.

"It's not like it matters, all I am is a stepping stone for your Uchiha. Someone to push him when you're lazier than usual. Tell me, compared to the other Jonin Sensei, how do you think you would rate with the amount you've taught us? Actually, how much have you taught me and Sakura?" he questions the man calmly, but with an underlying current of anger, while shrugging his hand off of his shoulder. Kakashi's eye widening in response to the question and the tone. "Good night, Sensei." Naruto derisively states, as he closes the door, leaving a man digging through his memories, trying to justify his actions, and only coming up with a blank. His actions toward his team previous to the exam, and even up to a couple of minutes ago… leaving him depressed, and finally aware of his blatant favoritism.

"I truly am a terrible sensei, aren't I?" he asks the completely deserted hallway, before moving towards his own room at a sedate pace, trying to figure out how to salvage the team that resembled his previous one in most, if not all aspects. '_What would you think of me now Obito, Minato-Sensei... Tou-San? What should I do?'_

* * *

**- Team Seven's room, Tower 44 –**

_**September 10th, 163 After Founding of Konoha. 1:05 A.M.**_

'_I'm not sure if that was the best idea.' _Naruto thinks to himself, looking around the dark room, his eyes able to see with the relatively tiny amount of light. His teammates deeply sleeping in their beds, _'They're completely unaware of the fact that anyone could come in and kill them at any time_…_ they suck. Quite hypocritical of me, considering what I did when we arrived at the tower, but still, I have a valid excuse._' Shaking himself out of those thoughts, he moves toward the bed beside the window, which happened to be on the opposite side of where his teammates were sleeping. Lying down on his bed after changing out of his outfit, and into a clean black shirt and blue shorts. _'I need to change my clothes, but I can't make it back and forth from the village, after getting some clothes… it's a bit too far, and not only that, but I'd probably be refused service. Typical… Completely typical, blinded by their hate, they don't care that they make me hate them too. But it's hard not to completely hate bigoted, self-serving assholes.' _– at this, a blonde boy in a castle called Hogwarts in a completely different universe sneezes loudly, causing him to drop something into a cauldron, making it explode in his face. -

_'__**Tell me about it.'**_ A deep voice resounds in his head…

_'__Kyuubi! It's me, Naruto!_' he exclaims, glad that his friend is back, diving into the sewer that resembled his Mindscape and appearing right in front of the seal.

"**Don't you think I know that, brat!" **the nine-tailed fox snaps back at him, as he walks inside the gate.

"No, not that, but it's me… back together, I'm whole again… and I finally leave this village once we get all of my things together." He states towards the chakra being.

"**I know** **that as well, I've looked through your memories, and I have to say… I'm impressed, and… glad." **The nine-tailed fox replies sounding grateful.

"You, glad? FUCK YEAH! I won my bet! I get an unnamed favor from you, Muahahahahah." the blonde teen replies cheekily, before ending in an evil-esque laugh.

"**Shut up, I don't care about that… I'm just relieved that I don't have to listen to you being so retarded. Why do you think I only came out to talk when he was barely conscious, something important was happening, or when he was more in tune with you?"** the fox rebukes the teen. At this, the boy turns away. "Well, it wasn't my fault…" he replies petulantly.

"**He was still annoying as fuck, you little shit." –**a vision of a short, blonde haired kid wearing orange shouting "Believe IT! Believe IT! Believe IT!" appears in a screen that popped up between them-** "Oh great kami, if you end up like that again, I'm going to shove so much chakra into your body that you'll explode. I'm not going through that fuckin' torture again. Anytime it happens, it would be too soon. A favor to you is a drop in the bucket compared to that." **The fox mocks the boy with a teasing tone, causing said teen to wonder how it's possible to do that with a voice that deep, and guttural, and decides to leave it be. "**So, what's your plan now, kit?"**

"Hmm, I'm going to have to find a way to leave inconspicuously… and come to think of it, it seems like Orochimaru-teme is planning something big." He thinks aloud. (It's kinda weird that he's thinking this, but saying it out loud, but go with it please, it's a conversation in his head… with someone that's not him… so he's not crazy)

"**In that case, we should gather information on this. And now, it's a lot easier than ever."**

"What? What do mean by that"

"**Well, if you didn't know, the**** Kage Bunshin**** actually transfers what the clones learn towards the user of the technique and all of the other clones, at least according to that scroll."** At this observation, the image of the scroll pops up, to the page describing the Kage Bunshin.

"Hmm, I've never experienced that. But, I think I know what the problem was. The seal."

"**The seal? How so?"**

"Well, considering the fact that the seal it blocked some nerve connections in my head, preventing me from regaining my memories… the Kage Bunshin probably works along the same channels. By sealing the memories away, and preventing the 'leakage' of those memories back to me, thereby decreasing the chance that I regain them close to nil, the effect of the Kage Bunshin was probably nullified." Naruto speculates. "I mean, I remember trying to find out whether it was true, and to me… it wasn't at the time. Now, however, I think we can put this to full use. In combination with our Kanzen'na Henge (Complete Henge) we could be anywhere, and no one would notice, especially since Konoha's detection and defense sucks these days. I mean, I was able to hide in plain sight and dodge ANBU while I was sealed away."

"**I agree… I was surprised that you were that proficient in anything, to be honest. So we're planning on how to get out of here?"**

"Yeah… Yeah we are. They won't know what hit them." Naruto chuckles, before being joined by Kyuubi, Their laughter echoing throughout the halls of his Mindscape.

* * *

**- Team Seven's Room, Tower 44 –**

_**September 10th, 163 After Founding of Konoha. 6:18 A.M.**_

'_Waking up to the light of dawn… it's been a while, since I've been able to see the sunrise.' _The only blonde in the room thinks to himself as he gets ready for the day. "Hmm, it's actually nice to be able to wake up early. Not training till the dead of night helps I guess." He muses to himself as he leaves the room, just missing his sensei that had a sever lack of sleep and was somewhat depressed, irritable and wanting a way to make it up to his students.

Completely oblivious of his Sensei's guilt-ridden change of heart, Naruto set out to get to the room that he used to unseal himself. Naruto walked down two flights of stairs to the fifth floor, finding the room occupied. _'Fuck! I guess they wizened up and actually came to work in time.' _"Hmm, where to find some sealing paper and ink…" he whispers aloud to himself. Wandering the hallways, he bumps into Kurenai once again. "Ahh, Kurenai-sensei, sorry for bumping into you!" he says, bowing in attempt to apologize.

"Oh, Naruto, it's no problem, no problem at all. Why, did you need something?"

"Well, that one room that I used yesterday is actually filled today, and I need to find some sealing paper and ink… I ran out when I was experimenting yesterday and I need to prepare for the third round, you see?" He blushes, gesturing in accordance to his words.

"Why don't you ask your sensei? I think I saw him head towards your team's room." She points down the hallway, "I think he went this way."

"Umm, you see, we had an argument… and I don't really want to talk to him right now." He says downcast, before noticing that she wore a dress made out of a medley of paper and cloth riddled with seals. "Hmm, are those seals on your clothes, sensei?"

"Yeah, they are. In fact I think I might have some extra in my room, come, follow me. You'd have to get some ink for yourself though, I don't have much left." she says, walking towards her room, gesturing for me to follow her. _'He's too sweet, I can't believe that they'd say he's a troublemaker when he's like this.'_ She thinks to herself.

"Thank You!" Naruto says, blushing and following her, noticing her careful, graceful gait. _'She's so beautiful, so kind and so awesome... I wish I find someone like her to be my girlfriend someday.' _He thinks to himself and receiving a reply from his tenant. _**'You got that right kit. She is one fine piece of ass. If I was in human form, why, I'd…' **__and_ summarily tunes him out lest he get a nosebleed and gain her ire.

* * *

**- Outside Kurenai's Room, Tower 44 -**

_**September 10th, 163, After Founding of Konoha. 7:06 A.M.**_

"Here you go, Naruto, I wish you well on these exams." Kurenai says to the blonde boy, before receiving a shout of "Thank You!" as he ran down the hallway, noticing his deep red blush and his attempt to cover his arousal. "Such a sweet kid, respectful, and pretty handsome as well. Too bad he's a bit too young for me." She mutters, herself bearing a light blush, before heading towards her team's room, closing her door after her.

After turning a corner, Naruto shoves himself into the alcove, breathing heavily. "Agh… what's wrong with me?" he mutters to himself. _**'I think it's the fact that as a whole, you're not entirely in control of your emotions just yet. You came back after an eight year "imprisonment" and you expect to be in control of everything?' **_Receiving an answer from the Fox sealed in his gut. _'You're right, I guess I didn't think of that.'_

'_**Well, you were thinking of other things, weren't you, like how you'd like to…' **_Kyuubi starts again, before Naruto cuts him off. _'Stop it, damn you! I need to find a room to-' __**'A room to get some release?' **__'Aghh, stop it you fucker! I need to concentrate, asshole.' _He shouts back and breaks off the connection before Kyuubi could reply. Proceeding down the hallway, Naruto finds another circular room, however, this one was clearly a room used for sealing. Finding a jar of ink that was sealed to be kept fresh, he pondered the fact that this stuff was in here, anyway.

"Hmm, this is weird, considering the fact that there aren't that many sealing experts left in Konoha, I didn't expect this kind of room to exist. But then again, this tower seems pretty old… It might be from the time when Konoha was in alliance with Uzushiogakure." _**'It actually was, I remember this building from the fight Madara and Hashirama had before their final battle at that one valley.' **_Kyuubi's voice sounded out, surprising the Genin. _'I thought that I broke off the connection!'_

'_**You did, but you didn't account for my awesome powers!'**_ the Kitsune stated proudly.

'_Right… and the real reason?' _the container asked skeptically.

'_**The **__**Five Element Seal**__** and its succeeding unsealing caused the **_**Shiki Fūin **_**to deteriorate somewhat, letting my awesomeness shine forth.' **_The fox replied proudly.

'_Figures. In any case, could you keep quiet while I start working? I don't want to blow us up, or cause us to travel to a different dimension or something.' _Naruto wryly states. _**'Different dimension, huh? This has promises…' **_Kyuubi thinks to himself.

Naruto turns and locks the door behind him. "Time to get started!" he shouts, grinning as he used a one-handed seal to summon his shadow clones, taking his clothes off and ordering them to fix his clothes up with seals, while he relaxed, thinking of one of the lessons his mother taught him.

_Ninja techniques, as a whole, do not actually require handseals. This applies to both Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. Handseals make it so that ninja could use the techniques during battle, where the control needed to use the techniques is harder to harness. What Jutsu require to be able to be used without handeals is not proficient control, although a higher amount of control makes it so that one could memorize the technique better, but the memory of how the chakra feels as it travels through their chakra pathways. Should a ninja use a technique enough, and eventually instinctively know how to use it, they should be able to use the techniques with one, or even no handeals... the end result being called Jutsu Mastery, of that specific Justu. As a whole, however, control is completely different from chakra flow, with a lack of a better term, as most ninja these days do not pay attention to this aspect of chakra. Remember this: Chakra Control, and Chakra Flow… two parts of the same whole. Control is ability to 'force' the chakra into techniques. While Flow, is the process of which one memorizes the actual way a technique is used in accordance to the way their chakra flows, and using that same 'flow,' to pull off Jutsu._

_Should one gain enough proficiency with their Chakra Flow, and then apply it to Elemental Mastery... theoretically, one would be able to bend the elements themselves to their whim with enough effort. Examples of such people would be the old wind specialists of Suna, who were able to "bend" the wind to control the paths of tornadoes and sandstorms. Another example would be the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju, who was eventually able to pull Water out of the very air, enabling him to use water techniques at whim, some of them similar to how a person would "breathe out" a fire Jutsu. This, however, required a trade-off, meaning that he gave up the ability to use his Jutsu Seallessly._

_On a different tangent, however... it is a common belief that one requires amazing control to be able to use Jutsu seallesly, once again, it is only one way of achieving it. With sufficient control, once could just 'force' the technique into being, thereby lending truth to that statement. However, with enough memorization of how the technique actually flows… it is completely possible, in theory, to just bypass the control. The best way, to achieve the feat of sealless Justu, however, is like always… practice. Practice that I notice most Ninja these days do not attempt, no matter the country. Coincidentally, the Uchiha Clan, as a whole is one of the reasons that the disregard of such a useful ability exists today... due to their inability to copy techniques unless one uses two handed seals… the Uchiha pushed forward, at least in Konoha, the decrease in knowledge of sealless/one-handed Jutsu. It may not make any sense, but because the handseals actually only help people control the flow of their chakra, each village, or country actually uses different handseals for the same techniques… the reason for them being different, comes from the way they live their lives, as well as their philosophies and the way they relate to it, allowing for more seals than the standard twelve basic seals. An example would be Genin or academy students who learn tree-walking. In Konoha, they would use the Tora, or Cat/Fire seal. However, in Iwa, they would use the Mi, or Snake/Earth seal, and in Water country, they might use the Jin seal. All in all, it's a matter of perspective. So theoretically, if the Hyuga clan ever get off of the stick that they sit on… they could learn practically any technique better than the Uchiha could. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case._

_What one does with Chakra is limitless... however, not enough people attempt to experiment with their Chakra, content in using known techniques. This is... I believe, a terrible thing. I fear for the ninja world if this is our future..._

Turning back outwards, his clones dispel seeing him out of his thoughts, allowing him to test the ability to regain their memories. Seeing that it worked, he looked at his clothes and grins, happy at their work. Where before, it used to be that it was an orange and black jumpsuit, with a black shirt, it was now a black set of pants, made of the same material and his jacket was now dark red, almost maroon, with the black area staying the same and a rusty orange colored shirt. Not only that, but there was a caricature of the Kyubi on the back of his jacket, and a hood attached to the jacket top, wondering where the hood came from, he noticed that one of the pant legs was short, as was one of the sleeves on his jacket; his pants only coming down to his shins, with a navy blue border, making it look like he wrapped the ends of the pant leg up. The same could be said for his jacket, which was a lot tighter around his chest and his abdomen, as well as right sleeve, which was cut and folded up to what would be his elbow, should he put it on. Finding the strips of orange that were left over from their work, he was glad that his previous other half learned some things like tailoring. Wrapping the orange strips around his hands as makeshift bandages and dropping his Hitai-Ite down from his forehead, and places it around his neck (identical to the way Hinata wears hers), he shouts joyfully, "Hehe, look out, Konoha… I'm back! And I'm not here to stay!" and chuckles at his last line, getting up to get some food before he had to to the entrance area at 11:30 A.M, wishing to find out about the other examinees, since the actual meeting time was 11:50 A.M.

As he reached the door, he realized that he needed an edge against the other Chunin Examinees, he summoned some Shadow Clones to create some explosive, smoke, flash tags, etc. before attempting to catalog his current arsenal.

_'Hm... I have th__e _Kage Bunshin_, and my control should be sufficient to pull off the standard _Bunshin_, _Henge_, and our _Kanzen'na Henge (Complete Henge)_ as well as the _Kawarimi_, 20 Kunai, 10 Shuriken, the sealing tags I'm having my _Bunshin_ create, that crappy academy Taijutsu, the Kyubi Jinchuriki Taijutsu, my mother's Suiton Jutsu and Kenjutsu, my Father's Raiton Jutsu and his _Rasengan_, and my Fūton Jutsu and last but not least, my sealing skills. As for what I can use... the Academy Taijutsu, the_ Kage Bunshin_, my Kunai and Shuriken, and the sealing tags. Any of the other skills I have would be too suspicious, and I have no wish to be split in half again...' he thinks before shuddering at his last thought. 'Yo, Kyuubi, got any Ide__as?'_

_**'As a matter of fact... there are**__** several techniques that are available to you. They were the only other techniques that were shown to me when you had the scroll of sealing... the**_**Kunai/Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,**_** and the **_**_Bunshin Daibakuha_.'**

_'Hmm, it'd be too suspicious if I pull off the _Bunshin Daibakuha_, considering the fact that I would've pulled it off every time I could. We'll save that for later, or something, I could say that I wrote that technique down or something. Any seals needed for the_Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_?'_

_**'Ram, Rat, Bird, Boar then Tiger. Think you could pull this off pipsqueak?'**_ Kyuubi mocked.

_'Piss off, Kyuubi, you're talking to the guy who learned an A-Class technique in two hours when he was retarded!'_ the Genin retorted angrily, causing the Tailed beast to laugh, _**'Hahaha, you admit you're retarded! This is the day I won my bet, brat!'**_

_'Shut the fuck up man, the deal was, you get out for a whole day if I say __I__... that was not an actual __I_, _ass-wipe. Just leave me alone and let me get this technique down before the matches. We can discuss this later, we'll call it even for now.' _he declared, beginning to practice the technique while attempting, but unsuccessful in ignoring Kyuubi's maniacal laughter resounding in his head.

* * *

**- Third Testing Area (The one with the giant hands in the Ram seal), Tower 44 (Forest of Death) **-

_**September 10th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 11:48 A.M.**_

"Chuunin are at the rank of a Military Captain, you have the responsibility of guiding a team…The knowledge, stamina and inner wisdom are all needed for your duties." A brown-haired man with a pineapple hairdo and a scar across his face tells the group of Rookie Genin before leading them into the Preliminary Area. "Speaking of which, Naruto's not here, do any of you know where he is?" he asks the group, none of them noticing the blonde on the ceiling above them, observing their reactions. After learning the Kage Kunai no Jutsu, he ate a healthy brunch and headed over around at around 11:30 A.M. _'Sheesh, these guys really suck,' _he thought to himself. _'I've been sitting here for 20 minutes and they haven't noticed me. For Shame...'_

"Tch, the dobe wasn't in our room." '_The Uchiha… a bastard, like always.'_

"Yeah, we don't need him! Sasuke-kun's all we need!" _'Loud and ready to bash a weak person's head in… the Banshee's pitiful.'_

"Yeah, Sasuke-Kun's right!" '_The Flower girl, still a fangirl through and through. She used to be nice, though.'_

"Troublesome… way too troublesome." '_The Nara, a lazy bastard like the rest of the males of his clan. I'd like to play shogi with the guy at least once before I leave.'_

*Munch* "Where do you think he is?" '_The Akimichi, a good friend, though a bit round in the middle.'_

"Probably ran away from the competition!" "Arf!" _'The Dog-Boy and his pet… arrogant as always._'

*Buzz* _'The Aburame stoic, and unyielding… he's probably noticed me already. Hehe, there it is… his bugs flying around, finding out secrets in Konoha wouldn't be too much trouble, they'd just think the bugs would be Kikaichu.'_

"W-where d-do you t-think h-h-e is?" '_Hinata Hyuga… Sweet, but not my cup of tea. She's too shy, and it would never work, anyways, I don't like her too much, and she'd get in massive trouble with her clan. Might be a major perv... with those eyes... I wouldn't question it... it may be the reason she turns red and faints whenever I come around.'_

After observing his 'comrades' for a bit, he decides to release the chakra from his feet, and lands behind Iruka, causing the Academy Instructor to swiftly turn around and try to punch him. Dancing out of the way of the blow, he waves his hands in a pacifying motion, "Hey, it's me, Naruto!" At this, the other rookies look at him, in shock and disbelief, unable to comprehend his changes. While the rest of the Chunin Exam Participants walked into the area.

"What? Something wrong with me?" he asks, looking for any blemishes on his new outfit. With his Jacket only zipped up halfway, and his rusty orange shirt, behind it, showing his physique, which was hidden completely by his previous Jumpsuit. Unaware that his twisting and turning was showing his form off even further to the now filling room. Turning back to the rest of the people in the room, he manages a sweatdrop the size of his head, seeing a lot of the females looking at him like a piece of meat; and shivering at the sight of some of the guys that were present ogling him as well. "Umm, yeah… nice to meet you?" scratching the back of his head in his nervousness due to his voice coming to a squeak at the end due to all of the attention he received.

"First off, for the Second Test… Congratulations on Passing!" a voice rang out, startling the Genin present, bringing their attention to the proctor of the second test. Seeing their sensei present, as well as the Hokage, the Genin quickly turned to face them and listen. _'For this many to make it… and most of them are rookies,'_ the Hokage thought to himself," No wonder they nominated them all." He said quietly, eyeing the Jonin-Sensei of the rookie teams. _'Naruto's changed, however… did the seal fail? Hmm, it might just be that I haven't checked on him in a while, I'm glad that he got rid of that orange.'_ He thought to himself, never realizing that this was one of the last times that he would see the young blonde that was so much like his parents that it was scary.

While that was going on, most of the ninja that weren't Genin, as well as the Nara, were taking a closer look at one they ignored for so long, finding that now that he was dressed differently, that he reminded them of someone that was very important to the leaf, who was coincidentally connected to the last person bearing the same last name as the child was. What completely cinched it for them was the hairstyle that Naruto had. Without his headband, his hair lost most of its likeness to that of an urchin, falling in a way that mimicked the way the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze wore his hair, almost to perfection. The resemblance was uncanny, and caused some of them to think of their treatment of the blonde previous to this day. What most came up with was that of regret for neglecting him, or even outright hating him. Deciding to make it up to him somehow, by spreading word of the uncanny resemblance as well as trying to affirm whether the rumors of their beloved fourth was bedding the Uzumaki was true, because if it was… they may have made a grave error. An error that most didn't realize was too late to fix.

Meanwhile, the Sandaime Hokage continued his speech, unaware of the other's thoughts. "I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning of these exams… this exam is… A replacement for war among the Ninja Countries. If you go back in time, there were large, full-scale wars fought by these countries in attempt to come out on top, and rule the world. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose for battle… Those are the origins of what we now know as the Chunin Selection Exam."

Here, the only male blonde Genin tuned the old man out, already knowing these facts, deciding to meditate to calm himself, only coming out of it due to a cough made by a sickly-looking ninja bearing the Konoha insignia on his forehead.

*Cough* "I apologize, Hokage-Sama… From now on, as the Referee, will you please allow me, Gekkou Hayate…" he ground out, having troubles talking without coughing.

"By all means…" the Hokage replied.

"Before the third test… there's something that you have to do… It's a preliminary test that decides who actually gets to go onto the main event." That statement caused the assembled Genin to break out into an argument, trying to find out why that had to happen and ignoring the proctor. _'Idiots…' _Naruto thought to himself… _'I've expected Sakura to know this, but I guess she only focused on the useless information that was relevant to the piss-poor academy.'_ Deciding to ignore the rest of the people, he watched as the Genin who had the info cards before the first exam, leave, stating that he could not go on. As Kabuto passed by Sasuke, Naruto noticed that the Uchiha suddenly grabbed his shoulder, seeming to be in pain. _'Oh yeah… that Oro-teme's seal. I completely forgot about that… Not like it's important, anyways, such a weak seal… Orochimaru definitely sucks at sealing. Still, why did it happen just then? Is he in league with Orochimaru and the Sound?'_ at this, he shook his head._'No time to get involved… I need to focus on leaving this place. That sort of mystery should be left to people who care for that prick, which sadly, the majority of the village does.' _He thinks as he sees Sakura attempt to get Sasuke to quit, in fear of his 'greatness's' safety. Seeing a glimpse of the seal, and an attempted blocking seal around it… _'Amateurs… whoever put that on there, should be put to death for their bastardization of a containment seal.'_ Causing Kakashi's nose to itch, being used to people talking about him, whether in a good or bad light… no one knows.

At this point, Hayate stopped explaining, and had the Genin and their Sensei move towards the balconies, leaving Sasuke and Akado Yoroi on the floor. "The first two participants in the first fight are Akado Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke… are you ready?"

"Yeah…"

"Yes."

Gekkou shouts, throwing his hand in front of him, signaling the fight. "First Fight: Hajime!"

* * *

**- Chapter End -**

* * *

**- Memories: 01 Start -**

* * *

**- Naruto's Mindscape, Clearing in a forest near a small house in a forest –**

_**October 10**__**th **__**185 After Founding of Konoha. Naruto, aged Seven.**_

Naruto and Kyuubi were sitting around, in the clearing that he had set up in his Mindscape, currently bored…

"What's one thing you'd never do, Kyuubi?" Naruto asks Kyuubi.

"**Hmm, never say that 'I was Glad' of something… 'bout you, Gaki?"** Kyuubi replies, turning the question back to the blonde.

"Well, I'd never say I was retarded, I'm quite smart, in fact. So smart… It's scary." He responds sagely, nodding at the end.

The fox, quickly thinking, asks... **"Say we make a bet? If you ever say you're retarded… I get a day of freedom?"**

"Yeah, I'll take that bet, Teme! If I win… umm… hmm…' the boy said, finding that a sufficient reward was hard to come by.

"**How about a favor… that you can come up with when you want it?" **the Kyubi asks, not wanting to waste any time and the chance to be free… for a day, at least. The seal would prevent him from doing anything not allowed… and this bet was a way around it.

"Sure!" the Uzumaki replied happily, causing both of them to imagine the day that they would win their respective bets; both of them thinking that those occurrences would never happen.

* * *

**- Inside the small house, right outside the back door –**

_**October 10**__**th **__**185 After Founding of Konoha. Naruto, aged Seven.**_

"So cute aren't they, Minato?" a red-haired woman asks the man with his arm around her shoulder.

"Hehe, reminds me of us when we were kids, messing around with Mikoto, Hiashi and Hizashi." The Kiiroi Senkou chuckles. "Think those bets would bite them in the ass?"

"Oh, definitely… remember the time when Hiashi had to wear his mother's clothes and makeup? Those were the days." Kushina says warmly, reminiscing about old times.

"I'm glad you sealed away some of the residual chakra to keep you from dying from the lack of Kyuubi's chakra circulating through your pathways… without you here, I'd hate to see how he'd grow up then." The man says, starting to crying softly.

"He's our son… of course we would do anything to help and protect him." She says, attempting to comfort him. "Now, c'mere, we have some time to ourselves we could use in our own room…" she hints, dragging him towards their room in their small house and closing the door. How their son never found out about their 'alone time,' or entered their room while they stayed in the house residing in his head… they didn't know, but they weren't about to ask lest it stop. He would never know, or suspect if they had their way.

* * *

**- Naruto's Mindscape, back at the clearing –**

_**October 10**__**th **__**185 After Founding of Konoha. Naruto, aged Seven.**_

Kyuubi shudders, catching a glimpse of Kushina teasingly leading Minato inside the house. _**'I'm glad I won't see any of that anymore… it was bad enough that I'd sometimes be caught in the middle of their… activities. Still… this is perfect blackmail material for later.'**_ He thinks, chuckling at the future possibilities.

"Aniki, where's my mom and my dad going? They go to their room sometimes and I can never go with them." Naruto asks, also noticing them leave, but oblivious to the nature of his parent's departure.

"**Hey, Naruto, want to race, I'll shrink myself to your size?" **he says, in an attempt to discourage the boy's line of thought. _**'This **__**is**__** his mind… if he really thinks about it, he'd be able to pull them out here… and I don't think any of us would want that.'**_

"YEAH! Let's do it." the boy yells, relishing his time in here with his friend. Their 'seal time' was one of the few times he could relax and act like a kid, especially since no one seemed to like him other than his mother and the man in white. Catching the sight of Kyuubi running past him, he yells, "Hey, No fair! We didn't say start yet!"

'_Me, Kaa-San, Tou-San and Kyuubi-Aniki... I wish… these days could last forever.'_

* * *

**- Memories: 01 End –**

* * *

**- Author's Notes -**

**If anyone knows how to put spaces between paragraphs other than using the line break system, please do tell. I'm getting annoyed by the posting system... things that I want divided by one or two lines are unable to be set up like that.**

Well... here's the next installment of the Maelstrom Road XD, which is roughly 5 days earlier than I was planning on posting it, so read, go eat and be merry.

I actually finished this yesterday, and I completely spaced out while typing it, making me miss my class... on another note, my professor was unable to have class yesterday, so... the world still loves me... somewhat. Be glad that my copy of FFVIII on the PSP is not working, and occasionally freezes when drawing magic from random mobs... allowing me to immerse myself in my writing.

The section describing the benefits of 'Chakra Flow' is thought of by me... if any similarities exist with someone's work, I apologize... as I believed that my idea is original. With fanfiction, however, it's kinda hard to be original considering the amount of stories out there. That section, explaining the idea though, is a 'lesson' that Kushina taught young Naruto before she died.

In any case, I didn't want to leave this chapter at a 'cliff-hanger' I mean, it's not a serious cliffhanger, but considering I actually hate cliffhangers despite knowing their purpose... meh. In addition to that, I'm still trying my hand at writing fight scenes, so I'm currently trying to think of ways to implement them.

The second circular room that Naruto found, by the way, is the room that Kakashi sealed Sasuke's Cursed Seal. So yes, Sasuke's fight would be a lot different, considering the fact that it's been sealed before the fight, whereas in canon, they sealed it after, as he fought right after they arrived from the forest.

I know it's an Air Gear/Naruto Crossover, but It'd take maybe at the latest, chapter 5 or maybe 7 if i go at a self-imposed quota of at least 5k words per chapter, not including any author's notes, questions, answers, etc. I might skip the preliminaries, but I have plans that would be implemented better should the preliminaries be shown, showcasing his skill. In the meanwhile, it'd show some more development between Naruto and Kyuubi, as well as a hint on a pairing that may or may not happen down the road (nope, not Kurenai, tho I do like that pairing), considering I've never written a 'romance' before, as well as certain elements that exist in both worlds. The parallels do exist, all the information you need to know are already present in the both of the actual Manga...

The Reason for having the Memories: 01 section, is that it's somewhat of an omake. I wanted to flesh out certain events, leading credence to certain events and comments in the story, but I'm unable to put it in at this time, and I'd rather have it down now rather than as a flashback in a later chapter. Therefore, two birds with one stone, not really a 'flashback' as it's not viewed in the actual story, and I get to have it as part of the chapter. They are 'canon' in my story, and any 'omakes' would be labeled as such if I have any.

As for Out Of Character-ness, this IS a fanfic, so any complaints about that could be taken and shoved where the sun don't shine... like a basement, storage area, etc. This is MY story, so if you don't like OOC-ness, go write your own and stick to the original character as much as you can. I will maintain certain characteristics of the characters, but I will take liberties.

This is currently only being written by me, and I'm doing the checking as well. So if there are any inconsistencies or whatever, please send me a message about it and I will change it.

I haven't received any PM's or reviews asking questions or anything like that to warrant a Q&A section, so until next time... go read something else XD.


	3. Trials and Trails

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise nor the Air Gear Franchise… which I believe I forgot to mention in the first chapter. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Oh! Great (****_Ōgure Ito)_****, respectively.**

'**_Thoughts.' _/ **_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" / **"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

* * *

**October 27, 2010: FRick! I updated the wrong edition of my third Chapter. Oh shit! I've gone back and re-updated it with the right file. I guess I missed which actual version of the chapter I posted. If you ask how I missed such a thing, I do my A/N's separately, after the chapter's already done. so... yeah. Re-read it. most of the differences were in the Prologue section. Anything else was just clean-up. Hehe, I knew something was up last night, but I was just tired of typing... Sorry!**

Pre-chapter Author's Note:

You get to see my attempt at fighting scenes in this chapter… And no, that's not ominous at all. I wonder how I'll be able to implement actual Air Gear tricks and scenes.

You may also notice that I've started marking Jutsu with Underlines… and of words with specific emphasis in a sentence. Should I not catch any in my revisions in previous chapters, please tell me so that I may correct them.

I have gone back and counted word lengths, so I decided to use FF dot Net's instead of Microsoft Word's. FF dot Net's word counter is less picky :P. I will be correcting the other stories' word counts and setting update dates on them based upon any problems I find in addition to the ACL and Posted stat lines. So, keep an eye out for more updates, just maybe not chapters.

* * *

ACL: 10,290 (Actual Chapter Word Length- According to FF dot Net): From and including the words Maelstrom Road to Prologue: 01 End.

Posted/Updated: October 26, 2010 ; October 27, 2010.

Re-Updated: November 3, 2010. Just changes to the breaks.

* * *

**Maelstrom Road**

**Ch 3…**

**~Trials and Trails~**

* * *

**- Chapter 3: Start -**

* * *

**- Third Testing Area (The one with the giant hands in the Ram seal), Tower 44 (Forest of Death) **-

**_September 10th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 12:04 P.M._**

After the signal to begin their fight, Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, proclaiming, "You should give up. You stand no chance against a genius of the Uchiha clan!" causing shrieks of his amazing prowess to burst forth from Sakura and Ino and most of the non-Genin present to inaudibly groan at his statement.

'_Arrogant prick.' _Naruto thought to himself, standing by himself beside the stairs, in an attempt to put distance between him and his Jonin-sensei before chuckling under his breath, attempting to cover it with a slight cough only noticed by Hiruzen Sarutobi, Ibiki Morino and Anko Mitarashi due to his proximity. _'Go ahead, and show us your "genius." That sort of statement is handed out left and right in Konoha these days. It seems like they have forgotten how weak Sasuke actually is in comparison to the rest of his clan.'_

"Che, you little brat, I'm going to show you just how wrong you are." Akado Yoroi, his opponent, shot back as he rushed forward in an attempt to take the Uchiha down in a Taijutsu match. _'Not the smartest person I see… engaging an Uchiha with Taijutsu, especially one who's finally awakened their eye, is paramount to suicide. The only time one should engage an Uchiha in a Taijutsu battle, is if they're physically faster than the Uchiha, they have an "Unpredictable Taijutsu," or if they have a way to counter the Uchiha's ability to copy and foresee movement. I have all three of those down… but this guy. This guy sucks. Probably rode here on his teammate's coattails.'_ The blonde Genin contemplated, moving his eyesight over to Sakura at his last thought before moving his attention back to the match. And he had to say, it was a terrible match, with the Uchiha's eyes not even active, and with him unhindered at least physically, this match was a terrible matchup. _'It may be a way to have certain people make it to the actual finals, though, so that's not surprising. And considering the fact that I was pretty bad… my match's going to be exciting.' _He chuckled to himself. _'One little chance to have fun before I leave.'_

Deciding to either push one of them to use some special abilities or at least finish the match. "Oi! Teme! Stop playing around with your food, this is getting boring! I mean, it's probably exciting enough for you, but I'm not you, am I?" _'Hah! That should get this shit started.'_ He remarked evilly inside his head, noticing the twitches he attributed to the Uchiha's very short temper, as well as the tensing of the muscles that the other Genin had.

"The dobe's right. Fine, I'll show you the might of the Uchiha!" the boy shouted out, activating his Sharingan as he rushed forward in an effort to finish the match quickly, ignoring the other Genin grin, one that could be seen even with the cloth covering the lower half of his face. _'Perfect.' _Yoroi thought to himself, activating his favorite skill.

"Eat this!" he stated, moving at a speed that surprised the Uchiha, making Sasuke pause and fall victim to Yoroi's, "FULL NELSON!" he shouted, grabbing the Navy-Bluenette and interlocking his hands behind his opponent's head. "Now, give up, you can't move, and I can kill you from this position."

"A full nelson? That won't work on me, I'm an Uchiha!" the boy arrogantly shouted, attempting to shake himself out of his opponent's grasp. "Okay, let go!" he demanded, "This is seriously starting to piss me off! Let me go, and I won't beat you into submission, weakling!"

The situation causing Naruto to burst out laughing. "Bwahahaha, that's hilarious! Teme beaten by a Full Nelson! What can your eyes do now that you can't see him Uchiha?" his statements not only catching the ears of the people on the balconies, marking his last comment down for later, but earning him the fury of said Uchiha, and the ire of Sakura and Ino.

"And why would I do that when I could suck up all of your strength and chakra? Do not demand things from people who have you checkmated!" Yoroi continued, ignoring The Kyubi Container on the balcony, activating his Chakra Kyujin Jutsu (Chakra Absorption Jutsu) and draining Sasuke's strength. "Forfeit or I will drain you of all your chakra." He said, causing Sasuke to stop moving. The words causing Naruto to sigh, _'Hehe, the Teme…"_

"Forfeit? The Uchiha do not forfeit!" he stated angrily. _'… does not like to lose.'_ Naruto finished, shaking his head as Sasuke smashed the back of his head into his opponent's face, stunning him and allowing Sasuke to pull himself out of his opponent's grab. Quickly, he turned around ducked, supporting himself with his right arm and leg while kicking his opponent's chin upwards with his left. This caused several people to gasp, noticing that it was a move that the spandex wearing Genin used.

Shocked at the blatant display of the Uchiha's mimicking of his skills, he started, "That's my Kage Buyo (Leaf Shadow Dance)!"before being interrupted by Sasuke's next statement. Naruto thinking,_ 'Dammit, I'm going to have to use that when I fight him...'_

"Though… from here, I'm going all original… It's over." Sasuke stated with a grin, grabbing a hold of the other Genin's back and twisting him to the left, causing him to revolve in the same direction, kicking with his left leg. Blocked by the other Genin, he continued, turning around and using the momentum from the other Genin's action to attack him from the right side with his left arm, scoring a hit, following up with a punch and finishing off by kicking his opponent in the stomach with his left leg, shouting "Shishi Rendan (Lion Combo)!_"_ causing the Chakra-sucking Genin to cough up blood and pass out from the pain. Back flipping away from his opponent, he landed on his feet. "Proctor, call the match!"

After checking whether the other participant was out, Hayate called out, "I'm stopping the fight here… and thus… the winner of the first match, Sasuke Uchiha… has passed the preliminaries!" At that statement, Naruto decided to just wait until his own match with Kyuubi.

* * *

**- Mindscape, Sewer, just outside Kyuubi's Seal **-

**_September 10th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 12:18 P.M._**

Entering his mindscape, he called out."Hey, Kyuubi, want to watch the matches with me?"

**"Sure… why not. I'm not doing anything, anyways." **Kyubi muttered, causing Naruto to frown.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know how to break the seal without killing either one of us. And besides, I think my father's imprint would stop us… Have you seen him, by the way?" he asked, looking around and attempting to will his father to appear in front of him.

**"No, it's strange, the Five-Element Seal, or even the Yamanaka's mind seal could have tampered with the Shiki Fuin or at least blocked your father from doing anything." **The nine-tailed fox speculated.

"Oh… in that case…" he started dejectedly, "Let's watch the preliminaries!" he shouted, summoning a TV in front of them and conjuring a couch and popcorn.

**"Right…" **the fox stated with a sweat-drop, itself being the size of a one-story house, before shrinking and joining his jailor on the couch, grabbing some popcorn with his tails. Watching Aburame Shino beating Zaku Abumi and his wind cutter techniques by filling up the holes in his arms, causing the boy's arms to explode after attempting to shove air through them, causing the fox and boy to cringe and move closer together, imagining what horrors such hole-plugging could do and deciding to stay away from the stoic Genin. Sabaku no Kankuro and Tsurigi Misumi's match was quite lame, with them standing around half their match… although Kankuro's finisher was decent. Breaking almost all of the bones in your opponent's body was apparently a staple occurrence, as some of the Jonin were quite unaffected by the display.

Turning away from Sakura and Ino's fight, Naruto asked… "Why are we still here?"

Receiving an **"I don't know I was wondering when you were going to get me out of this sewer." **from his fellow couch entity.

Concentrating for a few minutes, the sealed gates dissolved into particles of light, Naruto reformed them as a collar around Kyuubi's throat with the seal attached to it. "Hmm… well, I'm tired of sitting in this dark place… so, back to the house?" he asked softly.

**"Hmm, if you want to… it is your mind, Naruto, not mine."** The fox replied.

"But you're the one stuck here!" the teen retorted.

**"If you want, go ahead, I just want a forest to run around in… maybe some rabbits. I do miss the house, though."** The reply causing the teen to nod.

Standing still for what seemed like hours, but outside only took minutes, the sewers disappeared, replaced by well-traveled looking dirt paths in a forest. The log cabin from when Naruto was still young and his mother still alive seen just ahead in a clearing. Quickly rushing into the house, he looked into each of the rooms. Not noticing anyone in there but him and Kyuubi, who followed him, Naruto plopped down on the couch, dejected.

"I… was hoping that they'd be here, you know? At least I hoped dad would be…" he said softly, drawing his legs into himself, lost in his memories of his parents.

**"I'm sorry; I don't know why either of them aren't here." **The fox said, moving his tails around the boy in an effort to comfort him. **"We need to focus on getting out of here, though." **He said, keeping an eye on the floating TV behind them. It seemed that the TV was still showing the current happenings outside. Noticing the Yamanaka and the Haruno still blabbing and fighting like Magikarp in that one Pokémon game he saw while travelling around the countryside, he turned his attention back to Naruto. **"We'll find a way to see them. I promise." **He said to Naruto and to himself.

"Yeah… ok. Just let me rest a bit. Sorry for going all emo on you…" Naruto said, as he fell asleep on the couch.

**"Meh… it's me who should be sorry. If I was stronger… If I resisted that bastard's eyes… this wouldn't have happened at all." **Kyubi stated, angry at himself for his failures. Shaking himself from those thoughts, he turned to the TV that was still floating in the air, and noticed the bowl of popcorn and the couch floating behind it. Extending one of his tails, he snagged the popcorn and placed it in front of himself. **"Might as well see what else is new."** He stated, as he focused his attention onto the screen before bursting out into suppressed laughter, minding his emotionally drained friend, brother, and son? Yeah… he remembered… Naruto was partly his son. Where else could he have gotten such amazing pranking skills… although Kushina and Minato were pretty powerful pranksters in their own right, nothing came close to his skill. And that fur-like hair! So soft and so smooth… he chuckled to himself, the ladies did like that trait in a guy… although, and they could also get pretty jealous because of the lack of effort to make it like that. He shivered… and chuckled again, remembering the double knockout that the fangirls had. '**_I guess that they expected the Yamanaka to win, advancing her onto the finals. They forgot to add in the fact that they're both fangirls of the highest order. The Aburame and the Abumi's match merely a test to see how to arrange the later fights, testing out the Sound's ability… the same could be said for the puppeteer and the rubber guy.' _**he thought, assessing the current situation.

The fight had currently moved on from the fangirls and proceeded to move onto two of the three, maybe four female Genin that weren't crappy. Remembering the way that Tenten fought, at least from what they've seen in their memories of her in the training grounds, he realized that she was at a severe disadvantage if the fan and the fact that Temari came from Sunagakure gave any indications to her skill. Realizing that she was a genuine 'Fangirl' he chuckled once more, and watching the fight, his prediction was correct. The 'Fangirl' blowing all of the panda girl's weapons away, no matter how many times she threw them. He shook his vulpine head, if the panda-girl had moved into a close-ranged battle, she could have still won. She was too dependent on her ranged weapons skills, too focused and one thing that he knew about being single- minded was that there were always ways to beat your strategies, and then you wouldn't have a backup plan.

The fight between the lazy bastard and the sound chick was interesting enough, though as a Kitsune, he was able to see through the illusion instantly. **_'Too bad I wasn't able to pass this trait onto Naruto. The hair was too much of an awesome thing to ignore.'_** He thought, Kushina's insistence that he do that instead of giving the ability to see through Genjutsu to Naruto, her argument being, _"Any Genjutsu dispelling he would need to do is trainable. If he wants to be good, he has to train some anyways. Besides, it would be hard for him to care for his hair on missions, and, well, the fur feels so nice." _He remembered her holding him too tightly in her thanks after his assent, causing him to pass out. Pulling himself out of those bittersweet memories, he noticed that the fight was over, the Nara was able to knock the Sound Genin out by way of the wall. Noticing the names on the board, he noticed the next matchup.

**"Oi, Naruto, get up." **He shouted, shaking the teen roughly out of his sleep with his tails. **"It's your match! That dog-boy is your opponent."** Receiving a grunt and then a pop as Naruto kicked himself out of his head. **"Hehe, kicked himself out of his head. Ahh… that's funny. Anyone else would be considered crazy."** He laughed.

* * *

**- Arena Floor, Third Testing Area (The one with the giant hands in the Ram seal), Tower 44 (Forest of Death) **-

**_September 10th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 2:05 P.M._**

"Yeah, Akamaru! We've got the dead-last, an easy win!" Kiba shouted loudly on his way down the stairs, his partner silent and his teacher's attempt to reprimand him for his words ignored.

_'Your arrogance… will be your downfall' _Naruto thought to himself, eyes narrowed at his brash 'comrade' before grabbing hold of the railing and flipping himself over it and downwards towards the arena floor. Landing lightly on his toes, knees and spine bent forwards, his arms ready to catch him if he fell, showing traits of one who trained regularly was used to such feats. The traits, however, would not be usually found in at least rookie Chunin, much less those of Genin. This caught the eye of many of the higher ups in the room, with Sarutobi assuming that the man he assigned as his successor's son's sensei… had done his job correctly. Straightening himself and turning his neck from side to side, hands interlocked and stretched out in front of himself, Naruto causally stated, "Oi, get your mutt-ass down here dog-boy! I don't have all day, 'ttebayo." While thinking _'This kid will be easy to rile up! Might have something special for him though, I'm tired of his name-calling. Until he's got his head on straight… there's no way I will lose!'_

"What'd you say?" the feral boy yelled, rushing over to the Uzumaki, "I don't think I heard you right, dobe!"

"Hmm? Then I guess that the Inuzuka senses aren't what I was led to believe." He retorted nonchalantly, "Anyways, you say something?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets and turning his head towards the proctor, reminding several people of his very tardy sensei, receiving a yell of outrage, several sweat-drops, a yell of "Youthfulness," and face-palms from the assembly.

"Bah! You're just bluffing! I know you're still weak!" the canine boy shouted to the vulpine one in an attempt to put the blonde on the defensive in their verbal spar. At this, the blonde teen sighed.

"Whatever, a lot can change in five months, mutt."

Angered, the brown-haired boy shouted, "Mutt? Mutt! I might be a mutt, but at least I'm not an orphaned and abandoned kid of a bastard drunk, and a whore! They probably didn't even want you when you were born, you were so weak! That's why they left you!" causing several people present to shake their heads at such disrespecting attitude, as well as the angered, saddened and downcast eyes of the most powerful Ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves thinking,_'What can I do? Any leak of his heritage would undoubtedly bring war upon us. I'm sorry, Naruto,'_ before bringing his eyes to the one he called 'grandchild' pushing aside the fact all the damage he's done to him. Seeing Naruto frozen, and with his eyes wide, he panicked, _'did the seal break! The boy was always overprotective of his mother! This isn't good, the stupid boy might have broken the seal!'_ before motioning for his personal ANBU to get ready in case of such an occurrence.

Meanwhile, a shout of "….abandoned kid of a bastard drunk, and a whore!" resounding in the mind of one of the last two known Uzumaki; causing him to freeze, remembering the name calling that occurred to him and his mother. Shouts of demon-whore, demon-spawn and demon-lover were resounding in his head... they only shouted things, but never attacked him until she disappeared, and then only calling him a demon child or Kyubi-brat… his mind slowly shutting down from the influx of painful memories yet unsorted and head lowering, his hair shadowing his eyes.

Suddenly, a shout of, **_"Naruto! Get a hold of yourself!"_** came from the Kyubi accompanied by a burst of his chakra, breaking him out of his thoughts and bringing him to a stop.

_'Thanks… I guess I owe you one, Aniki.' _He said to his brother gratefully.

**_'Hehe, I know you do, now go out there, and kick his ass for defiling Kushina-Chan's memory and don't break your cover! We don't want you to be sealed again, do we?' _**he shouted as the boy focused on reality once again.

Taking half a second to regain himself, Naruto stayed motionless, hearing no conversation and assuming that the rest of the room was silent, only hearing the uneasy steps of some of the Genin as they shifted from one foot to the other due to Kiba's statement. He gazed down at the arena floor, pulling himself together, he heard his opponent continue to mock him.

"Hehe, I knew he was too weak, beaten by words. Such a dobe, Proctor, cancel the match, I've already beaten him!" he gleefully stated, satisfied in his apparent victory, not noticing heated glares from the orphans present and the shocked looks set his way, although his partner certainly did, attempting to hide himself in his master's coat. Kiba did see Naruto twitch, however, "Hehe, you should give up, dobe, a no-name like you with no family can't win!"

At this, Naruto started to shake, causing people to worry as they felt the chakra spike that occurred earlier wondering whether the Kyubi had been released. His face still hidden away from everyone in the building, he chuckled darkly, causing most of the Genin present to fidget, unused to the blonde ball of sunshine acting like this. As well as putting several of the higher ups on edge.

"You…." he started coldly, "you dare?"

Kiba mocked him in reply, "Yeah, I dare dead-last!"

"I… I may not know my parents," he lied, allowing Hiruzen to relax and signal his ANBU to step down. "But until I do… If anyone… anyone! Talks smack about them... I'll do my best to make sure they won't do it again." His voice though soft, resounded ominously throughout the room, causing some people to shiver as if the temperature suddenly dropped; and Kurenai and her team fearing for her student's safety. They wouldn't stop it unless it got serious though, as they thought that he would deserve it after talking to a fellow leaf shinobi like that.

"You're bluffing, Proctor, start the match, I need to show the Teme his place!"

"Proctor," Naruto's voice, almost inaudible to the rest of the room, "I'm ready, start the match."

Hayate nodded, proclaiming, "Round Seven, Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba! Hajime!" throwing his arm out to signal the start of the match as he leaped away, attempting to put himself out of the line of fire.

At the signal, the Inuzuka rushed forward and punched Naruto in the face, throwing him into the wall causing structural damage and rubble to form from the room's now trashed wall. _'Perfect.'_ Naruto thought, creating some _Kage Bunshin_ and sending them out to prepare for his trap.

"Hehe, I knew he was all talk!" Kiba shouted, "Proctor, ca-"

"Oh? That wasn't too hard. You were weaker than I thought, Kiba-san." A cold and calculating voice echoed around the room from all directions. "Is that the best you've got?" the voice repeated from the direction of the rubble, as a figure emerged from the dust, unharmed. _'You're way too cocky for your own good, you bastard.'_ Naruto's form now clearly visible, shaking his head to get rid of the dust, the only sign of him being hit into the wall. "You're much too weak to be fighting me Kiba-san, give up!" the statement and the tone of voice causing the people who knew Itachi Uchiha to stiffen. "No? Now, come." He stated, before lifting his arms out to his sides, gesturing for his opponent to attack him with a 'come here' gesture.

"You bastard! You're only all talk!" Kiba shouted once again, "I'll show you, Dead-Last! Akamaru, let's go! Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four legs technique)!" before getting down on all fours, and yelling, "Jūjin Bunshin (Beast Human Clone)!" as Akamaru burst into smoke and appeared as a copy of Kiba. "Let's Go! Gatsūga (Dual Piercing Fang)!" he continued to yell out before they rushed forward and started to spin, turning into a pair of tornado-like drills headed towards Naruto.

Naruto, seeing this, dropped several of his smoke tags onto the floor right before they reached him, showing a Cheshire grin at the last second before getting covered in smoke. _'Kawarimi!' _he called out in his head, replacing himself with the remaining pieces of cloth from his clone's tailoring job attached to a human-sized piece of rubble. He waited for the span of a couple of minutes, waiting for Kiba to finish his attack, before using the Kawarimi once again, replacing himself again with the debris, appearing behind Kiba as the smoke started dispersing from the attack.

* * *

**- Balconies, Third Testing Area (The one with the giant hands in the Ram seal), Tower 44 (Forest of Death) **-

**_September 10th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. Right after Naruto threw the smoke tags down._**

"Hmm, what's his plan?" Kakashi mused to himself, seeing the fleeting glimpse of his subordinate's grin.

"His level of skill surpasses the said reports, Kakashi. Truly, he is an example of youth!" Gai exclaimed proud of the fact that his rival had such youthful students.

"Hmm… you say something?" he replied slowly, causing Gai to go off into a rant about how 'hip' he was. Ignoring the man, he turned back to the match only to be interrupted by Asuma.

"Kiba is wasting his energy in an attack that couldn't even be hitting Naruto." Asuma observed, watching the Inuzuka and his partner rip around the smoke-filled area.

"Hmm, you may be right… Naruto is very good at concealing himself." Kakashi speculated in reply, "If any of you don't remember, after his Village-scale pranks, only Iruka seemed to be able to catch him, and even then it seems like it might be that Naruto would only want to be found by him." _'At least… that's what the ANBU that were sent to chase him told me. It makes me wonder how and where he's hidden his skill all this time.'_

"No, Kiba's senses aren't as good as the senior members of his clan, but he should be able to track the presence of Naruto by his scent." Kurenai responded, confident in her student's skills, their conversation having caught the attention of the Genin and several of the Jonin, causing most of the people present to miss the disappearance of one of the tornadoes.

"Maa, maa, just wait; let's see how good our students fare against each other. Look, the smoke is starting to disperse." Kakashi pointed out, seemingly getting immersed once again in his book o' smut.

Naruto started making several handseals with a smirk, as the clones he sent out earlier said loud enough for everyone to hear. "Now, let me show you the only Jutsu that Kakashi Sensei has taught me!" emphasizing the only in their sentences.

As the smoke covered the area started dispersing, showing Naruto standing behind one of the Kiba's, his hands in the Tiger, or Tora seal. "What? What did you teach him, Kakashi?" Kurenai quickly asked, fearing for her student's safety.

"Hmm? That's a secret." He replied, seemingly quite unconcerned. Inwardly, however, he knew that he didn't teach Naruto anything other than the tree-walking exercise, causing a stab of pain in his chest at his failure. Scrambling at any memory of anything that he had shown Naruto, he remembered the only one that he used in plain sight, other than the Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique) that he and Zabuza performed. Remembering the only time that he actually used the Tora seal… "No… not that!" he suddenly exclaimed, catching the attention of the people in the balconies, causing many to worry.

* * *

**- Third Testing Area (The one with the giant hands in the Ram seal), Tower 44 (Forest of Death) **-

**_September 10th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. Immediately after Kakashi's exclamation._**

Kiba instantly froze, hearing snippets of the conversation as well as Kakashi's shout, and finally sensing the presence behind him. His head turned around slowly, catching sight of the handseal usually used for a fire Jutsu, his eyes going wide in fear. At this, Naruto smirked coldly and said_, _"Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi (Konohagakure Hidden Secret Taijutsu Technique: One Thousand Years of Death)!" as he shoved his fingers, which he covered with cloth by the way, into Kiba's asshole, sending him flying into the air from the painful asspoke and having several people sweat-drop, face-palm, face-fault, or any combination of the three. While Kiba was launched into the air, Naruto immediately ran forward and created some Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) to knock Kiba higher and towards the giant statue fixed into the Ram handseal.

"U-!" one of the clones shouted as he kicked Kiba higher, allowing another clone to step-jump off of his back to reach the human volleyball.

"Zu-!" the second clone yelled, as he kicked Kiba upwards at roughly forty-five degree angle. While the first clone and a third clone threw a fourth clone higher.

"Ma-!" the fourth clone yelled, as he head-butted Kiba's stomach, causing him to grunt loudly and rise up higher. The rest of the clones gathering together to form a chain to throw the third clone towards Kiba.

"Ki!" the clone yelled as he kicked Kiba with both feet, stalling his descent. As Kiba was being kicked by the third clone, two of the clones that Naruto created when he was covered in the rubble's dust appeared at the tip of the left hand of the Ram Seal Statue. The fifth clone jumped off of the fingertip, aiming for Kiba, and the sixth jumping on its back to gain some air. At the peak of clone number six's jump, Naruto used Kawarimi to substitute himself with it, covering the figure with smoke. At this point, he smirked coldly at Kiba, who was unable to move or defend himself, still in pain from the head-butt that clone number four gave him. "Don't talk smack about my parents, asshole!" he said to Kiba, his grin the only thing barely visible through the smoke before shouting "Now, take this! Uzumaki Taijutsu Combo Number 7: Debilitating Head Trauma!" as the previously unnoticed clone number five made another clone and jumped off of its back and onto Naruto's, increasing their weight, who then proceeded to push himself away from Naruto, knocking him downwards with a jump, dropping him feet first into Kiba's Face, rocketing the dog-boy towards the ground, landing head first into the concrete while Naruto landed in the middle of his clones who gathered around his landing spot in a circle, dispersing at his landing.

"Proctor, call the match please, Kiba should need some medical help after that." He called out to Hayate as he steadied himself and picked up the overlooked Akamaru who was munching a piece of steak happily, one that looked like the breakfast that was served to the Inuzuka and his pup at dinner last night. "Hehe, Akamaru, thanks for letting me do that. I would have hated to hurt you too."

Moving over to check the boy's status, the proctor motioned the medic-nin over as he shouted out the match's results. "The winner of the seventh match, Naruto Uzumaki… has passed the preliminaries!"

Making sure that he had Akamaru settled safely in his arms, Naruto walked slowly over to the stairs, ignoring the stares and the mutterings of the people who considered him a dead-last. "Who's the dead-last now?" he asked himself, although it was heard by everyone but the unconscious, grinning.

**_'Hehe, I agree with you. To be honest, I'd say that those two fangirls who tied would be classified as dead-last.' _**Kyuubi chuckled mirthfully. **_'I hope that you won't slack off now, though?'_** he questioned the blonde.

_'Hell no! We're still getting out of here. All the ties that I wanted are severed or weren't even true in the first place, the only ones who seems to be genuinely good towards me are Kurenai, Iruka, some of the other Genin and Ayame. Even then I'm not completely sure.' _he countered as he reached the top of the stairs. Moving towards team eight and their sensei, he turned towards Kurenai and said, "Here sensei, I think Kiba would rather have you guys take care of him while he's out!" with a small smile.

Accepting Akamaru from Naruto, Kurenai told him, "That was a good match, and I apologize for any disrespect that he gave you." causing him to smile.

"No. No apologies are needed, if any are, then they have to come from him." He thanked them, before attempting to go towards his previous spot on the balconies.

"I'd like to know how you evaded their strikes though, Naruto-san." The Aburame piped up, "He should have been able to sense you, especially with his sense of smell." Causing the others present to 'tune in,' also having that very question.

"Oh, that? That's easy, hehe. I actually had some scraps of clothing that I had left over from working on my clothes after we got to the tower, he said, tugging on the 'bandages' that were tied around his hands. See?" he pointed out, pointing at a human-sized piece of stone that had some tatters of cloth attached to it, the stone filled with gouges, and the floor littered with pieces of orange cloth. "My clothes have my scent, so while I was knocked into the wall and covered in dust, I had some clones prepare and surround the room. I had them prepare the dummy in case I was able to drop some smoke bombs and do a replacement. They also did some other stuff, like those two clones I had at the top of the statue, and the others called out some stuff, I mean, you heard that 'echo' I had, right?" he questioned, getting nods of assent. "Anyways, before anyone asks, I just had a piece of steak left over from breakfast. I couldn't finish it, so I offered it to Akamaru if I didn't hurt Kiba too bad." He said, shrugging as he put his hands in his pockets.

Anyways, "Thanks for not being angry at me for beating him so bad." He grinned, thanking them as he walked away, ignoring the stuttering girl and the eyes of everyone present. Sinking down onto the wall at his previous spot, he closed his eyes. _'So, I guess that they deemed Kiba to be the superior one of us. He was probably supposed to win this match and advance to the finals.'_

**_'At least it was an easy win, one that wouldn't show how strong you are right now.'_** He received from his tenant.

_'Ehh, true that. Watch out for me? I feel drained right now…'_ he asked his friend tiredly and fell asleep without receiving a reply.

**_'Yeah, I'll watch out for you, like your parents asked me to. We're not always going to be together though… I hope you're strong enough for what's coming.'_**He said, despite knowing that the blonde was asleep back in the log cabin in his Mindscape.

As the conversation was taking place, whispers and conversations about his skill began circulating around the room. Most of them ended up looking to Kakashi who couldn't give them an answer to the reason of Naruto's increase of skill causing the pair of 'Beasts' to hug shout out about the power of youth, causing people to inch away from them lest they get the sickness apparent in their actions and method of dress. Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood ignorant of Kakashi's reaction, proud of his 'grandson,' once again ignoring the fact that should his actions not have caused the repression of Naruto's memories, he would have been able to reach Jonin by now… comforting himself with the fact that he wasn't someone like Itachi Uchiha. Unable to, or wishing to not see that Naruto truly was similar in all the ways that he didn't want him to be… all because of the actions of his 'peaceful village.'

Sasuke's gaze was coldly staring at Naruto, wondering where his power came from, and brooding, _'Where is his power coming from, first… he beat that Haku person… then he fought Orochimaru better than I did, then he comes and does this… Naruto, I will find out the secret of your power, and take it away from you!'_ ignorant of the fact that these abilities were always in front of him the whole time.

A loud, hacking cough from the arena floor gathered the attention of the Ninja, "Would Hinata Hyuga and Neji Hyuga please come down, for their match?" he questioned, pointing to the board with one hand and covering his mouth with a handkerchief with the other.

* * *

**- Mindscape, in the Log Cabin in the small clearing in Naruto's Mindscape **-

**_September 10th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 2:18 P.M._**

**"Whatever, I'll just set this thing on record… but I did say that I would watch… dammit."** Kyuubi grumbled shoving some thought-generated popcorn into his maw, as he watched the match, one that he was sure Neji would win, especially since he could tell that Hinata didn't have enough confidence in her own abilities, let alone while using a Taijutsu style that she wasn't suited for, and her reluctance from using Neji's Hyūga Sōke no Juinjutsu (Hyūga Main Family's Cursed Seal Technique) because of her kindness. She was only saved from death due to the actions of the Jonin present, stopping him from landing a killing blow. Watching this made the tailed beast pause and shake his head due to his tiredness of their talk of Hinata's horrible life, as well as the fate-obsessed boy's tantrum. "**As if her life is as horrible as Naruto's had been." **he scoffed to the sleeping Naruto, before lengthening his tails to bring him to the room that he used. "**Enough drama, give me some action!"** he yelled, after closing the boy's door, able to shout now that the boy wouldn't hear him.

And he got exactly that in the form of Rock Lee and Gaara's match. The eyebrow less one being an immovable object, the sand abilities pointing out that his fellow 'Demon' was sealed inside him. The bushy eye browed one had speed and strength that was pretty good, not as good as Naruto's was. However, Naruto not only had faster reflexes, but the ability to use Jutsu. Then bowl-cut had to go and use some of the eight gates, completely surpassing Naruto's speed and strength. **"That'd be dangerous, if Naruto had to fight this guy. I'm not sure if he'd be able to win like that."** Kyuubi pondered, before chuckling, **"He'd probably find a way to win anyways."** In the end, though, Lee got the shaft, having his arm and leg crushed wasn't a good thing. He'd probably have to quit being a ninja. As for the Gaara kid, he seemed pretty unstable, occasionally eyeing the fox-boy, the fate-jerk and the emo-teme. **"Hehe, at least that was an awesome match."** He mused, glad that at least some of the people were strong. He didn't want Naruto to have to deal with only weak people, after all.

The final match was a big let-down, after the 'drama/action/comedy' that was Naruto's match, the 'emotional roller-coaster' that was Hinata's and the 'action-pack' that was Lee's. Akimichi Chouji had been completely steamrolled by his opponent after he steamrolled into the wall, allowing Dosu Kinuta to use his arm-flute to knock the tub of lard out. **"Hmm, I think this was the lamest match in the whole set other than the fangirl match." **Noticing the call for the winners of the matches to descend, and the pink-haired girl start to move over, Kyuubi quickly made his way over to Naruto to wake him up. **"Oi, Naruto, get up! They want you to head down."** He said, attempting to shake him.**"That banshee's going to knock you upside the head if you don't move." **He sang out, as he jumped back, laughing. Immediately, Naruto jumped out of bed, glared at his tenant and dissolved, regaining control of his body.

* * *

**- Third Testing Area (The one with the giant hands in the Ram seal), Tower 44 (Forest of Death) **-

**_September 10th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 3:29 P.M._**

Naruto regained control of his body just in time to dodge to the side 'unconsciously,' causing Sakura to cry out as her fist hit the wall, not noticing him get up.

"You know, it's not polite to hit people. No wonder your precious Sasuke doesn't like you. You're a brute, not a lady." He shot at her as he jumped down from the balcony from between the railings, earning a scream of outrage from the pinkette. Landing on his toes once again he made it to the assembled Genin.

"As I told you before, in the main event, your matches will be seen by everybody. Each of you will fight to represent your countries." The Sandaime began, seeing that all the Genin who passed were present. "I'd like you to show off all your powers with no reserves." Here, Naruto tuned him out, already knowing his lesson, but looking like he was paying very close attention. The words "… one month should be used by all of you to advance and improve yourselves." Bringing him back to reality. "Of course… it'll be fine to rest your bodies as well… and that's the way it is. Well, I'd like to dismiss you now, but… there's something that has to be done for the finals before I can do that." At this, Sarutobi motioned for the second exam proctor to bring forward a box." There are nine pieces of paper inside of the box Anko's holding so each of you takes one." Moving over to Anko, each of the Chunin hopefuls grabbed one of the slips of paper. "Now then, I'd like you to tell us the number of that paper in order, starting from one."

"One." Gaara muttered. **_'Fitting.'_** Kyuubi mentioned to Naruto. _'What'd you mean by that?'_ **_'He's the container of Ichibi no Shukaku.'_** _'Ahh, so he's a Jinchūriki like me.'_

"Two." Sasuke declared, seeming to be angry and happy at the same time. _'Probably pissed that he didn't get number one, but happy that he's fighting a strong one.'_ Naruto snickered, earning him a glance from the other participants and a half-powered glare from Sasuke. _'He might not have enough angst to currently power that glare.' _He continued to laugh inwardly

"Three." Temari called out, appearing to be bored of the current events. _'I am too. I want to get out of here and stretch out my legs.' **'So, about that day out…' **'Later. Now's not the time.'_

"Four. Che… Troublesome." Shikamaru complained, lazily staring at his slip of paper. _'He's still a lazy ass, hehe.'_

"Five." Kankuro said, sweating. _'Hehe, I'd be sweating too if I was wearing such a retarded jumpsuit!' **'Says the pot to the kettle.' **'Oi, take that back!'_

"Six." Shino droned as his kikaichū buzzed in his coat. _'I guess he's pretty angry, or nervous if his bugs are flying around like that.'_

"Seven." Dosu stated. _'I can't tell what he's thinking. I guess that's why he's covered his whole face like that. I think it's a good idea, but if I wear something for a long time… my skin would get all pale. I don't even want to know how Kakashi looks under his mask, if it's like that. Come to think of it, this dude's got what Kakashi has going on. His eye is showing on the opposite side though.'_

"Eight." Neji stated, still stiff. _'If this goes the way I'm thinking… we're fighting him first.'_

"Nine." Naruto stated proudly, holding up nine fingers with a feral grin. **_'Hehe, fitting, indeed.' _**_'I know, right?'_

Focusing back onto the discussion, he caught Sarutobi's explanation of the tournament from a question that Shikamaru asked, learning that the Third Exam would be a set of matches where they would display their skills to a larger audience, mostly to Daimyos, other Kage, visitors and the villagers. "Well then, thanks for all the effort you exerted for these trials. You're all dismissed until a month from now!" At Sarutobi's dismissal, Naruto headed off towards the passageway that led back to the village. Pulling his hood over his head and running out of the room in an attempt to escape any questions, Naruto started grinning.

_'Aniki, it's time to prepare!'_

* * *

**- Chapter 3: End -**

* * *

**- Prologue 01: Start -**

**~Promises to Friends~  
**

* * *

**- Location: Hotel Room, Unknown -**

**_Year: 1981 Time: Night/Unknown._**

Two figures walked into in what seemed like a hotel room, the view that the window provided majestic, overlooking the city.

"We'd like to ask you to donate some of your genes." the first figure, who had a deep male voice asked. His figure covered mostly by shadow.

"We're not sure if we want to. I mean, isn't this kind of like 'playing God'?" a younger sounding male voice replied from behind him. The lights from the outside only showing glimpses of his blonde hair.

"No, not really. We just want to be able to help the world. With these children we're creating... we could help the world... Energy problems would no longer exist. We need you, because you're some of the most physically fit people of today. Not only because of your training, but because of your Genetics." the first voice continued as he walked.

The sound of something hitting wood reached them his statement, a muffled "Ow!"and rushing footsteps accompanied by a somewhat distant female voice, "I... well, will they...?"

"What my wife seems to want to ask is whether or not they'll be cared for. Or will they be treated like lab experiments?" the younger male asked, his head held low, covering any view of his eyes.

The deep voice sighed before answering, "Hmmm... I won't lie to you, they may be treated as experiments... but I'll make sure they have someone to take care of them. I'll look over them."

"Hehe, I guess you heard that we're unable to have children?" the female voice nervously questioned the dark haired man, as she entered the room, her dark red hair streaming behind her.

"Yes, I've heard... It's a terrible loss." was the answer he gave, looking up at her. "It's why-"

"I see. It's why you've come to us, isn't it? So were the tests correct, or was this all fabricated? Did you cause all of this?" the young male angrily cut him off, grabbing the dark haired man by his coat as he stood up and shoving him into the wall.

"No. Of course not. If you wish, you could go anywhere, and I won't do anything about it. I give you my word." the older voice stated, seemingly uncaring of the fact that he was just shoved into the wall. "Besides, why would I do that to you? You guys know me better than that." he choked out.

"I'm sorry, but okay. We'll do it. Just... will you let me see them? Will I be the one to carry them? Would we be able to visit them? care for them?" the female asked softly, holding her husband's arm to calm him down and allowing the other man to pick himself up and straighten his clothes out after the blonde man let him go. "Here, sit down," she motioned, them sitting down in the chairs around the coffee table near the open balcony windows.

"If you wish... for a certain extent." he answered, "What about you, Minato? Will you do this? She is willing to do this."

"F-fine. I'm sorry for the way I've acted... the news is just too recent, and with us not seeing you recently, and all this trouble with the media... anyways, Kushina and I have always wanted to have children... Hell, this might be the only way we have them, 'Uncle' Minami... How many could we have? We'd always wanted to have four... two boys and two girls." the now named Minato asked his friend, affectionately teasing the man with his title of 'uncle' in an attempt to alleviate the situation caused by his anger.

"I'm sorry, but we can only have three of them at the most from the same donors. I may be able to convince them otherwise at a later date, however. For now, I'm sorry. I mean, unless you wish to have other..." Minami shook his head as he answered, causing the couple to sadden slightly, and also shake their heads in the negative at his suggestion. "Hehe, I knew it. No worries though, I actually would have been surprised if you would." he chuckled nervously.

"Two boys and a girl, Mrs. Namikaze?" Minato asked his wife, putting his arm around her and kissing her cheek in an attempt to cheer her up.

Blushing at his attempt to cheer her up, she lightened up, asking, "Yeah... but can we name them? If... if we won't be there all of the time, like you said. We'd like to at least... have something of ours."

"Of course, alright... what do you want to name them?" 'Uncle' agreed, sounding happy at their acceptance.

"For the Boys... well, we've only had one name marked down. We'd like to name one of the boys Naruto... we'll send you a list, if possible, at a later date?" Kushina said softly... "We've always wanted to have children... so thank you."

"No, don't thank me... I'm just trying to make the world a better place. And besides, why wouldn't I want to help, you're my best friends. Anyways, We'll send some people over when we can start the tests, Mr. and Mrs. Namikaze." Minami said teasingly to the new couple, standing up. "I have a question, though... Why are we sitting in this dark room?"

"Hehe, well..." the blonde man started scratching the back of his head in his nervousness. "Well, it so happened that we were... roughhousing, and well, we kinda smashed through one of the walls. Turns out the wall held a bunch of wires that we now know to have held the power to this place." he gestured to the wall covered in a white cloth, himself and his wife blushing in unison, causing the man garbed in a white lab coat to laugh as he was led to the door.

"It was nice meeting you again Minato. Kushina. Haha, the last time I saw you was when you were still an Uzumaki. I'll promise I'll make your dreams come true. It's the promise of a lifetime." he called back them as he walked away, waving his arm goodbye.

* * *

**- Location: Minami's Home -**

**_Year: 1981 Time: Two Weeks Later._**

Minami walked down the hallway of his house, carrying a glass and bottle of wine. He sighed, his work was so tiring nowadays, the program had just been able to obtain the newlyweds genes right before their vacation. Not only that, but they were able to obtain sufficient genetic material for three, according to the reports, but actually enough sets of... reproductive genes to be able to make five children, including extras for any failures. He shook his head, his work was just too much, and was too prevalent in his life sometimes. 'Uncle' chuckled, it was worth it though, to see his best friends' happy faces as they found out that they've already had one of Kushina's eggs accept one of Minato's sperm. Dubbed 'NU-01,' or as the couple affectionately called it, 'Naruto,' was three days old today, in fertilization of course, but they would implant him into his mothers womb when they got back from their short 'victory celebration,' their honeymoon that they had postponed after the disaster that was the news of their inability to have children. Dr. Minami smiled, he was happy for them, to be honest, he was in love with Kushina as well, but he understood why she fell for Minato, he still carried the torch for her, but well... he'd rather be in their lives than not. He sipped his drink, relishing the taste of his red wine. He'd seen them off yesterday, telling them that 'Naruto' was one of the older gravity children, or G-Children that the program had already 'created,' and that he'd make sure nothing bad happened to him. He moved over to his living room and picked up his remote.

The sound of a television being turned on was accompanied by his groan as he sank down into his chair, a news-woman's voice came out before the screen flickered on, _**"-airline crashed into the sea today, there were no survivors. The most notable casualties being the renowned 'Jack of all trades' Minato Namikaze and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze. The newly-weds have been married for only two months, and were immediately beset by the news of their inability to have children a month and a half ago. They looked like they were able to recover from this news and were on the flight to Hawaii, where they planned to go on their honeymoon."**_ The Newswoman's words striking him deeply, his drink forgotten as they crashed onto the floor, spilling the blood-red substance all over the carpet. The newswoman continued regardless _**"Minato and Kushina were known for their various achievements in not only the scientific community, but in sports and media as well. With Minato's band, The Four Hokages, and Kushina's newly released novel, The Legend of Uzushiogakure, it had seemed like the only way for them to go was up..."**_

He shook his head at the news, grabbing his hair and attempting to pull it out. "No... don't." he shook his head. "No no no no no... NOOOOOOOOO!" his scream of anguish echoed around his estate. "No... you still haven't seen what I've accomplished! What you wanted, what we wanted! You can't leave me! Us!" he cried out, "You still haven't held your children... you haven't met them yet. You haven't named them yet... Only Naruto has been..." he sobbed to himself, eventually passing out on the floor from the discovery of the fact that his closest friends were dead.

* * *

**- Location: Gravity Children Lab -**

**_Year: 1989 Time: Late Afternoon._**

_'If only you could see them now,' _Minami thought to himself, watching the Gravity Children at work through the window between the Lab and the physical training area. _'You'd be so proud... I can't show myself to them... It's my fault. It's all my fault. If I didn't give you the news that day... All I can do now, my friends, is make sure you have your children.'_

Suddenly a crash is heard, grabbing his attention. "No. Not again." he said, as he beheld the still form of a blonde boy who was bleeding all over the floor. "NO!" he shouted out, rushing out of the room. "Go! Get him stable, bring him to the ER!" he yelled out towards one of the doctors. Ritz, or whatever his name was, it wasn't important now. "Do it!" he yelled again, as he ran past, causing the rest of the crew to rush towards the boy to bring him to the ER. "Get away from him! We need to get him to the ER!" he yelled towards the children who were crowded worriedly around Naruto, allowing the medics and doctors to reach Naruto.

"I can't fail again." he murmured to himself, watching them work on him. "I promised, I always keep my promises. You know that, especially to you two."

* * *

**- Location: Minami's Office-**

**_Year: 1989 Time: Seven Hours Later._**

"Dr. Minami, we've stabilized him. He'll retain the scars on his face, and on his head. His hair, however should cover the scars on his head." one of the doctors said as they stood before him, somewhat nervous in his presence. "Strangely enough, the shards of the equipment have caused these 'whisker-marks' on his face. To be honest, he looks even cuter now that he's mostly healed." the doctor giggled, "It's kinda strange, but the burns that were caused by the equipment made his 'whisker-marks' dark, almost black."

"Is he okay though?" he asked, relieved, catching the doctor off guard as he usually didn't show emotions towards others.

"He's okay... well, he's okay." another doctor stuttered.

"Okay? How is he not okay?" Minami asked warily, catching the pause.

"Well, he's okay not only physically, but mentally. However, it looks like he's in somewhat of a... self-induced coma, if you will. We've done everything we could to wake him up, but he still hasn't. So we have no time frame for his recovery. But by all rights, he should have recovered just fine, and not have even progressed to anything resembling a coma. His brainwaves are constantly fluctuating, as if they were active. The likeliest theory being that he's dreaming, which suggest that he should be able to be woken up which, once again, we haven't been able to do." At the doctor's rambling, Minami held up his hand wearily.

"Is there a way to keep his body safe and fit?"

One of the other doctors spoke up "Well, we could have his body in motion, allowing it to 'exercise,' " at this, he held up his fingers in quotation marks, holding his clipboard in his armpit. "We could also introduce a form of electrotherapy into his body, simulating the process that the body goes through in the use of muscles, allowing him to build new ones."

"Do it." Dr. Minami said, nodding. "Thank you."

"What if?" the last of the doctors piped up, asking something Dr. Minami knew was coming.

"If he doesn't get up?" Dr. Minami finished, receiving nods from the four doctors.

"I won't give up on Naruto. If eventually they wish to pull the plug on the funds for him, I'll personally take it out of my own paycheck." Dr. Minami stated stoically. "Now leave, and... thank you." he said, the doctors bowing their head slightly to him as they left. Moving over to his office window, he looked over the 'G-Children.' _'Hopefully, they'll be happy with the names I gave you. This is not only their dream, but mine. One that I'll have to fulfill for them in their stead. '_ he chuckled at the memory of the 'extraction process' and the subsequent glares he got from Minato. _'Hopefully your brother wakes up soon.'_ He continued watching the Gravity Children, taking solace in the fact that three of his friends' current children were still alive.

_'Eventually, it'll be four once again. Like you wanted.'_

* * *

**- Prologue: 01 End –**

* * *

**- Author's Notes -**

AHHH, my hands! FUCK! MY BEAUTIFUL HANDS! lol. They hurt so much. So much typing. I was planning on posting just the Chunin Preliminaries, but my mind told me 'NO! Go forth and do my bidding! And add some Air-Gear-ness to the story' And so I did. I did most of the work at school, as I'm always doing nowadays. I hate sitting in the PC labs btw. Not only that, but, concealing the fact that I was typing Fanfiction and not homework from my Laptop and Gadget taking mother is a pain. In the end, I persevered and have brought you Ch3 of Maelstrom Road.

I think it's weird that I don't actually know the ages of the characters in Air Gear. I know I found it somewhere, but I can't find them, sadly. This pisses me off, because I need to know some ages for the story to continue. I guess I'll just continue the story and 'ret-con' any changes that I find. I'm pretty sure that Simca and the older crowd (G-Children) are roughly in their mid to late twenties... If anyone knows for sure, please tell me.

Similar to the Memories: 01 section, the Prologue: 01 is also somewhat of an omake. Like the other, I wanted to flesh out certain events, explaining how certain things come to be. And trying to reduce the dreaded plot hole's appearance. I wanted to show how Naruto would somewhat tie into the story. I'm not done with the Prologues though, so that part of the story's not complete yet. If anything does come up in the Manga, then I guess I'm diverging from Canon. But then Again, just by writing this crossover/story, this is already diverging from Canon. So, well, there's not really much to say about it XD.

If anyone wishes to know about Chapter titles, don't ask me :P JK. I want to give somewhat of a hint, or nudge about something in the chapter, or about the chapter as a whole.

By the way, how was my attempt at the combat-things? I think I did decent. Better than I thought I was going to do, but still not as good as I want it to be. Oh yeah, and if you didn't know... things not only fall slower, but move slower in anime combat time. Keep that in mind.

No one's questioned my Genius yet... so, I don't have anything to answer. I'm kinda waiting for the next time that my muse cracks my head open with her pen.

Oh yeah, and as for the reviewers, thank you. And the rest of the people who are reading my story... how is it? Bad? Good? Mediocre?

And to black-white-rose, sure. I don't mind swapping Ideas. however, I'm just kinda going with the flow, just typing out what's going on in my head until I get a general timeline and story set down. It's still fluctuating, so at the same time I'm writing the Konoha arc, I'm fleshing the rest of the story's timeline out in my head and on paper. But sure, I don't mind accepting and giving help :P.


	4. Crossways and Convergences

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise nor the Air Gear Franchise… They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Oh! Great (_Ōgure Ito)_, respectively...  
**

'**_Thoughts.' _/ **_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" / **"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

* * *

**- Pre-Chapter Author's Note -  
**

Hehe, Hi guys! I'm back... and I've gotten more for you :P

I really haven't come up with an 'epicly cool name' for the prologues. To be honest, these first few chapters really are 'prologues' now that I think about it. They merely set up the story... It's somewhat because I hate how time-travel, AU's and stuff like that aren't explained, or the people don't go into the depth of how it happens. I tried to flesh it out a bit as you can see here, instead of just jumping in willy-nilly... it's just not my piece of cake... when writing a story. Reading it, however, I can usually stomach them, considering the actual stories are good.

But yes, there explanations galore in this chapter... Not theories, but explanations... sound good? (there may be mini-theories that pop up somewhere, but I forget :P)

AND... any inconsistencies I have written in my story... please send message/review and I shall elaborate/gestu-speculate and edit the story, or answer it in a later chapter, if it isn't too bad. If it is though, I shall go and fix it up.

**_November 3, 2010: I will be editing this chapter later on... especially since I have to work on my 6 page essay for tomorrow... which I haven't done quite yet. Later._**

To **SaCcHaRiNeD ChIld**... I understand that you're confusion... and I hope that this chapter answers any confusion. If not, then I'll elaborate about it at the post-chapter A/N's. As for the lack of Air-Gear-Ness, it was actually a personal debate on what I'll have happen in the story. I've worked most of it out now, actually, and I hope that everyone likes the effect if not... then, well, I'll probably keep going because this is something I like doing...

As for your question about the Sandaime's decision... well, the boy was already somewhat mature, yes. But he was also six/seven years old. That could be quite traumatic, and what happened to Sasuke in Canon and how he reacted... well, I'd say that the boy would seek vengeance. Yes, he was somewhat childish, but since he was already maturing rapidly, as I didn't really show, but is implied... he would have been able to plan, and it might have been devastating, as Sarutobi will no doubt find out. As for anyone strong enough being able to do that, well, they're called Nuke-Nins XD. But seriously, with enough planning, you could invade a country with minimal detection, if Orochimaru wasn't a retard and attacked Sasuke in the Exams. I don't know why he didn't just invade, kill Sarutobi then take Sasuke... but I digress.

To **god of stuff**... like the above... the Air Gear cometh soon, with more 'snippets' this chapter.

To **Roxas321**... why, man? Sure, I admit, the story's a bit slow, but it's how it's coming to me. The theories were things I've always wanted to implement in a story I would write... and as for eating your brain out... I don't think my theories are that long winded. They're eddikayshunal. I'd rather have some background for things people do than none at all. But that's just the way I write. I can't change it, or force it, it just comes to me, so sorry :P.

* * *

ACL: 14,685 (Actual Chapter Word Length- According to FF dot Net): From and including the words Maelstrom Road to Prologue: 02 End.

Posted: November 3, 2010.

* * *

**Maelstrom Road**

**Ch 4…**

**~Crossways and Convergences~  


* * *

**

**- Chapter 4: Start -

* * *

**

**- Forest clearing, Five miles out of Konohagakure no Sato **-

**_September 23th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 1:45 A.M._**

**"This should be far enough…"** Kyuubi's voice resounded throughout the clearing, preceding his cautious arrival. Looking around once again, he detected no one near. He'd taken control of one of the numerous Kage Bunshin that Naruto had made over the course of two weeks and infused it with his potent chakra and his soul, leaving a portion of his already 'cut in half' soul inside the seal so that Naruto wouldn't sense anything amiss.

He hadn't told Naruto the real reason why Madara was so fixated on controlling him, telling him that Madara was focused on revenge on the leaf because he wanted to be Hokage and was turned down, and that he was simply crazy. The fact that the crazy red-eyed geezer wanted to shove the moon into his body was both laughable and horrifying… the concept it was laughable and the horrifying part was that it was completely possible. The fact that Kyuubi would once again lose himself to the Nine Biju's almost omnipotent, once completed, form was bad. That Naruto would die if they were captured by the madman was worse.

Kyuubi shivered at the memory of the plan as he moved into the center of the clearing; the crazy bastard had blabbed his plan to Kyuubi as he wrested control of Kyuubi's mental state from him, as Kyuubi attempted to leave some chakra within Kushina to keep her from dying from the loss of the Chakra that had been inside of her almost all of her life. He'd only succeeded on giving her a small portion, the rest spraying all over the area, which he remembered was eventually sealed back into Kushina as well, allowing her to live. Minato came back soon after, and eventually came and sealed Kyuubi into Naruto with the Shinigami's help; one portion into a scroll kept by the toads, and the other, into their son. Had an Uzumaki done the sealing, they would have been able to seal the whole of him into Naruto without the summoning of the Shinigami and loss of life. Sadly, the last Uzumaki were Kushina, Naruto, and if they assumed right, Nagato. One of Jiraiya's students in Amegakure, and none of them were capable of sealing him in his crazed state. Only Kushina's chakra chains and her soothing, familiar chakra had calmed him somewhat, allowing Minato and the Shinigami to seal him.

He shook his head, dispelling scenes of the past, talking to himself, **"I told your parents I'd keep you safe… and I will. If you stay here… It'll be too dangerous for you. I know you wanted to travel, to fly. But here, here's a chance for you to not only do that, but you'll be safe." **Deciding to do his business quickly, he cut the palm of his right hand and proceeded to use handseals at a rate almost invisible to the naked eye, his hands blurring from the speed, looking like his hands had disappeared inside a Rasengan. Summoning the Shinigami was a gamble… if he wasn't recognized by the deity, then he'd disappear. But then again, with him gone… his chakra would be Naruto's and Naruto would be safe, with no Biju's chakra to extract if they captured him. If they found him, that is. Naruto was quite always very adept at hiding; the inadvertent training caused by the Yamanaka's sealing once again increased his skills exponentially.

Crouching as he finished the last set of the two-hundred seal jutsu, he shoved his arms down, calling out **"****Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Shinigami (Summoning Jutsu: Death God)!"** tired from the effort it took to summon the divine being.

**_"Why have you summoned me, Mortal?"_** the Shinigami called out, its eyes roving around the clearing before focusing on the Nine-Tailed Fox in human form. **_"Hmm? This energy is quite familiar… Kyuubi? You're out of the seal… and the boy's not dead… I would have met him already if he had. And you're not crazy this time. You know how much it hurt me to seal my own friend into one of his best friends' son? How could you even let that man control you? How are you by the way? Is the boy alright, his parents wish to know?"_** the Shinigami's questions and statements fast enough not to allow Kyuubi to interrupt, allowing the deity to stop once it had noticed that it wasn't receiving answers. **_"Well?" _**Shinigami finally asked, lifting the visage and causing the Kyubi to laugh. The Shinigami had dispelled the gruesome visage that it had usually worn as it escorted people towards their destinations, or when it was summoned, revealing the form of a slightly rotund, old man, with huge waves of floating white hair and a full beard. The man wore robes in a combination of red and white, a black obi tied to his waist. His hair tied with red ribbons at the ends. Still, even in this form, the man oozed power.

**"Well, to be honest… I have questions for you, as well as something to tell you."** he started, moving forward and clapping the red-clad man on the shoulder. **"And… well... it's funny, I had expected to be sealed, completely within the boy once I saw you. Oh, how far have the gods fallen, Tsukuyomi-sama. And what the hell, man, you got fat! And why are you the Shinigami, I know it's Izanami-sama's Job."** Kyuubi smirked, earning a light punch on the shoulder from his apparent friend. **"Hey, lay off a bit, I'm only a Kage Bunshin!"**

**_"Che, shut up."_** The now named Tsukuyomi grumbled, **_"I'm not fond of the sealing arts, and I only knew enough to get by. If he had summoned any of the other ones… or the actual Shinigami… well, I'll leave it at that. Besides, it's only two hundred more years that I have to do this job, before Amaterasu's punishment will be over, and I'll be able to leave the underworld, and this job, and regain my truly awesome form while Izanami-chan takes over again. So don't even mention it again. Ever. Now, I know that you wouldn't summon 'me' if it wasn't important, or if a situation wasn't particularly dire."_**

**"You're right. I've got favors to ask you and any of the other Kami… all relating to whether or not my assumptions are true. You all know me, and the others… and our decision to descend once again into the mortal plane. To control the demonic chakra of the ****Jūbi, the ten-tailed beast. To not allow anyone to combine them once again… should they once again merge the world would have been damned. The fact that Susanoo went down and became mortal himself, created Ninjutsu and sealed the beast within himself to help the mortals, dispersing it into nine at his mortal death…" **Kyuubi paused and bowed his head in respect for the greater deity before continuing,** "We know that Susanoo has not resurrected just yet. But there is trouble brewing on the horizon. The one known as Madara Uchiha plans to seal the Nine and merge them once again into the Jūbi before sealing it into himself... I have promised Inari-Sama that I would do my duty. And I had… I had led the Uzumaki people in the ways of Fūinjutsu, the 'Art of the Kami,' in order to be able to seal the Nine should we get out of control. But they were wiped out, and if I am correct, then Madara has caused this, whether directly or indirectly... the 'man' that did the deed is one of his subordinates now." **He paused, gathering his breath.

**"We had promised to stop this, but we have no one to stop something like that happening this time. The eyes of his family too cursed their evil too great, the fact that I am merged with this evil chakra allows me to be controlled by him if I don't put enough effort into resisting. Besides, I was doing something else at the time... something more important than that. And, the others have either lost themselves in the darkness, or forgotten the very reason we've come here… I have heard of the rampages that 'Sanbi,' 'Gobi,' and Shukaku have caused. They are proof enough. We need to stop Madara, Shinigami-sama..." **Kyuubi finished explaining to the Temporary Shinigami, somewhat drained by the effort of explaining everything.

**_"You're right. We have sensed something wrong. Something is blocking our vision. But you know we cannot interfere, the statutes declare it so."_** He started, before being interrupted by the Kyubi.

**"But… I have a plan, one that could benefit us all... and it would have a larger chance of failing miserably if my suspicions are false."** His statement catching the red-clad man's ears, raising his right eyebrow raise in question.

**_"Go on."_** He asked, intrigued.

**"Well, you see, considering I was only an underling under Imari-sama… well, I never knew about. Hmm, how do I ask this? What… what do you know of alternate dimensions?"** the question causing a deep belly laugh to reverb across the clearing, followed by Kyuubi's laughter at the jiggling belly. Kyuubi's laugh causing the other to stop laughing as he continued.

**_"Hmm… well, you'll see. Just ask Amaterasu-sama." _**The rotund being replied stiffly, patting the still laughing vulpine on the shoulder lightly lest he dispel him. **_"Come, we must discuss your idea with the others." _**The two beings disappeared, leaving the clearing untouched, the animals emerging once again, sure that the presences had disappeared.

* * *

**- On top of the Yondaime's Head, Hokage Mountain, Konoha **-

**_September 24th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 5:19 P.M._**

Naruto frowned, as he looked over the Village of Konoha, frowning not at the village itself, but its residents. Even now, they showed how shallow they were. After his performance during the Chunin Exam Preliminaries, he'd started to see people look at him differently. He shook his head, obviously, because of his 'possible' heritage; people were beginning to look at him with a better light. In the two weeks since the Preliminaries, he'd had people start following him, start wanting to talk to him, and people muttering new things about him. What were funny though were their reactions to the speculations. Many of them still shot hate-filled glares at him, causing him to laugh inside, it was too funny… they still held their childish grudge. Sure, he could understand the pain of loss and the feeling of helplessness, but hadn't they done the same to him? They've taken his mother and father from him, as well as his aunt. He wished that Konoha was smarter… had the people just left their homes during the Kyuubi's rampage after it's unsealing by the bastard Madara Uchiha, they would have been safe as a whole. Sure, one could say that Madara would have chased them down… but then, Minato would have done the sealing anyways. Had they done that though, the blonde overlooking the village mused, maybe there would have been less hate.

It was mostly the civilians, and the newer ninja who treated him like crap, not understanding any of the concepts that Minato had put forth in his seal, and he hated Sarutobi for not mentioning them. Not only that, but everyone knew that his mother was the previous Jinchūriki of the Kyubi, and they knew how friendly and kind she was… This all pointed towards some form of social control, maybe rumors passed down by people who wanted him out of the picture. The biggest possibility being that of the Council… they couldn't overrule anything the Hokage ordered, it was just blasphemy, however, they could in fact go and do things behind his back. Corruption does exist in Ninja villages, maybe even more so due to the seemingly infinite ways one could go about it. In the end, it seemed that all of his troubles lay in one man's one arm… Shimura Danzo. The man he held mainly responsible for his mother's death. Not only that, but it looked like the bandaged bastard had controlled the civilian population through bribes, force or rumors. His controlling actions effective due to the inaction of another man, one who was the cause of more pain than he realized, Sarutobi Hiruzen... Because of his lax attitude, his senile views about the civilians of the village and his 'forgive and forget' attitude, many were able to put forth reforms and actions that hurt both him and his mother, and made it very hard for them to leave. His mother was planning, along with Rin-obachan, to leave the village, even risking becoming nuke-nin.

Naruto shook his head; wanting to move past these thoughts… he didn't want to remember the loss. He'd have to deal with both of the old bastards later though. Continuing his thoughts about how the populace of Konoha had change in regards to him, some of the people looked at him with shame in their eyes, due to their actions, or inactions. To be honest, roughly half of the population was simply uncaring of him or his situation, in addition to smaller parts that wanted to help but were too scared. All due to their wish to be unaffected by any wrongdoing for coming to his aid, or simply too immersed in their own lives to care. Still, the amount of people that 'hated' the 'demon-child' was numerous enough that many didn't want, or couldn't help. He knew what might have happened to families who had tried to help him, and he was grateful for their thoughts, if his speculations were correct. He just wished that some would have gathered the courage to help and he knew he needed it in hindsight. These were people that tried to help him out now, and made overtures for his friendship or acquaintance. Naruto shook his head sadly, all of this came too little and too late, and he knew that they knew that. It still gave him some comfort that Konoha wasn't full of a bunch of retards. Still, the fact that many of them went along with the attitudes the 'haters' had hurt him some. Did Konoha not have a backbone? Did they not preach peace and camaraderie?

Skipping the rhetoric he turned his thoughts to the last group… these people had looked at him with calculating looks, and he knew what they were looking for. Signs of his 'supposed' father… 'The legendary Namikaze' that won Konoha the Third Great Shinobi War. It was too sad, and too scary. He knew that most of these were affiliated with people on the council, were on the council, or wanted to make their way there. The fact that most would do anything for it scared him and made him want to leave even quicker. What was funny was, he remembered some of these people being the very ones joining the mobs that formed around his ninth year of his life, some even inciting the mobs as 'advertisements' of their fake beliefs merely to further their own ambitions. Another thing he found hilarious was the way the rumors were seen as truth. One would think that being in a shinobi village, they would take the information that they received with a grain of salt. _'I wonder what would actually happen, if there was an official announcement.'_

He moved his attention back to reality, just watching the sunset. '_If only he could fly,'_ he mused. _'That Iwa flying jutsu sounds pretty damn handy. To be able to fly, and leave your troubles behind… only you and the wind, with no one else and nothing else to drag you down. Simply you and the sky.'_ Naruto laughed at the feeling of serenity just by sitting on top of his father's stone head. _'I'll make my way out. The preparations are almost done. Only time will tell whether or not I succeed.'_ He promised inside, always aware of the fact that someone could always be watching. '_Especially that crystal ball that the Hokages have received as a gift from Uzushiogakure as one of the symbols of their alliance. Che, what alliance… they didn't come to help Uzushiogakure when it was attacked by Sasori, Iwa and Kumo_._'_ He brushed the dirt off of his pants as he stood up. He had to make it to a safe place; it was about the time some of his 'bugs' were supposed to dispel themselves. He would need more information on when to strike, and when to leave. Hopefully, the bugs he had sent after the traces of Orochimaru and the people who had traces of the scent of snakes would allow him to find out their plans.

Quickly creating a Kage Bunshin, as he disappeared into the tree line behind the faces, he cast a Genjutsu, one of his favorites, the Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape Technique), he proceeded to jump rush out once again onto the top of the Yondaime's head, jumping off with a swan dive. _'I love this feeling.' _He thought to himself, as he plummeted, invisible, towards the ground. Reaching an appropriate height, Naruto quickly used Kawarimi to substitute himself with a piece of trash nearby. Landing on the ground, he made his way towards his parent's home as his clone paraded around as himself, before it would make its way to his apartment.

* * *

**- Outside the Uzumaki-Namikaze household, Konoha **-

**_September 24th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 7:34 P.M._**

Making his way back to his parent's old house wasn't hard. He had lived there for at least seven years with his mother and his aunt, so he should know. The house was a simple, one story, dark red brick house with a tiled roof. The house was concealed by seals which were lovingly nicknamed 'notice-me-not' by his mother as she taught them to him. The design of the actual seals mocked the plants with the adage of forget-me-not, the abilities of the seal quite self-explanatory. The only way one would actually know of the place concealed with the 'notice-me-not' was when one was told of the actual location, resetting once the seal's current 'master' had passed and only allowing entry to blood relatives. Otherwise the person's attention would be drawn elsewhere, towards another self-explanatory seal his mother laughingly called the 'look-at-me-I'm-here!' seal, his mother's version of the seal was tied into activating only if one looked towards the area dictated by the 'notice-me-not,' the design that concealed the seal looked like huge, red-orange exclamation points, making him chuckle inwardly at his mother's attitude towards the actual names of seals. She had told him that she didn't care much for the actual names of seals, only what they did, and gave them names according to their use, going as far as poring over the Uzumaki Seal Archive, and writing down names that she thought were fitting and re-arranging them by result followed by difficulty then alphabetically, from the previous alphabetical setting.

Finished musing about his mother's quirks, he found himself in front of the gate. Quickly pricking his thumb on a sharp point on the gate, right beside the seal locking the gate, he swiped the bleeding digit across the locking mechanism. He remembers his mother muttering to himself one night about the problems with blood-based seals and how most of them didn't discern whether the blood was fresh or not, him making a childish comment about how they didn't prick themselves on the seal, and the subsequent hug.

_'I'm reminiscing way too much. Eventually I'm going to get off guard.'_ Naruto thought to himself, closing the gate behind him, glad that he didn't have to add chakra to the seals on the estate, as his parents had added a 'chakra-vacuum' that sucked in subtle amounts of chakra from the environment, maintaining the seals... _'Dammit, why am I always losing track of myself.'_ He reprimanded himself as he walked towards the front door, and repeated the process from the front gate.

**_'Just be glad that you're not doing it out in the open, where people could take advantage of you. And besides, you know that it's simply you not used to having control of your thoughts, or even having to control them.' _**He received as an answer from his tenant, who had seemingly disappeared immediately following the Chunin Exam Preliminaries, only appearing once in a while. Naruto didn't pry; he knew he had things that he didn't want his aniki to know, so he let him have his peace.

_'Hey, Kyuubi. What's happening? Enjoying your relative freedom?'_ he asked as he moved towards the training ground that his parents had dug into the ground and reinforced with seals, glad that he had someone to talk to, allowing him to take a break from his thoughts.

**_'I'm fine, I'm just exploring this forest, it's way larger than it was before, I guess it might be connected to how more developed your mind is. How about you?'_** Kyuubi stated with a white truth. The forest that had replaced the sewer as a representative of his friend's mind was indeed larger. However, he had been doing something else in preparation for his jailors escape to come. "**He should enjoy it."** he said to himself, inaudible to his jailor as he didn't direct the conversation towards him.

_'Hmm, just fine. I was about to sit down and sort through the memories of my clones, actually, they should start dispersing soon enough.' _He replied to the tailed beast, settling down onto a mat he set up on the floor just as the flood of memories started trickling in. Moving through them, he discarded anything he deemed inane or otherwise useless to his plans to leave.

**_'Guess we both know now that Konoha's a bit slow on the uptake… the information they have right now… we've had for the past week.'_** Kyuubi grumbled to Naruto, as he sorted through the memories with him. Quickly 'pocketing' the images of certain females at the bathing houses and of the vixens that the clones saw, he pushed the memory of the meeting between Kabuto, Orochimaru and the Sand Jonin that had the turban and face mask combo towards Naruto. **_'Oi, here's a good one. It seems like we were correct, as always. The Sand is allied with the Sound.'_** receiving a mental nod from Naruto in response.

_'Yeah, well, it seems like with this information, I can strike at Danzo and the Sandaime, and make my way out safely.'_ The blonde commented, following up with a, _'And don't worry about me noticing the memories you've taken away… you seem to be fixated on Kurenai-sensei more than anything else, though.'_ He called out, causing the fox to curse loudly at being caught. _'Hehe, don't think you can fool me, it's my mind, Kyuubi. And besides, I think Kurenai-Sensei's really hot too. Why do you think my clones followed her?'_ He chuckled, before 'shutting the door' on their conversation, catching threats against him, his manhood, and his life from his friend.

Pulling himself up, he had his clones move out and start sealing all the materials that he wanted to keep with him when he left the village. Mostly his scrolls on Fūinjutsu, and other techniques that his clan had collected throughout the time their village still stood. Most of them, he hadn't even gone through yet. Making yet another batch of clones to practice the jutsu that he already knew, as well as a set to practice the Bunshin Daibakuha… he decided to grab himself a bite to eat from Ichiraku's. Grabbing one of the coats that his mother had made for his father from the master bedroom, he made his way out of one of the side doors. The coat was colored a dark red-orange with black flames on the borders, and a single tie in front of it to allow it to "flow in the wind, but keep it in place." He emerged one block from the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, thankful that his parents had built one of their underground passageways to bypass the sewers and come out in such strategic places, like the main restaurant area of Konoha.

* * *

**- Ichiraku Ramen Bar, Konoha ****-**

**_September 24th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 9:22 P.M._**

Naruto sighed, as he walked up towards the Ramen bar, thoughts of Teuchi and Ayame filling his mind. Throughout the course of the two weeks, his spying on them… for which he felt extremely guilty for, had shown that both of them genuinely cared for him, making his decision to leave all the harder to stomach. He had learned that Teuchi never hated him, and in fact was quite neutral towards him, even in the beginning. He eventually came to care for Naruto the more he came by, which was quite often, especially once he paid attention to how the boy acted. Naruto found this entire situation out from the times that Teuchi would take out a picture of his late wife and tell her how his life went. Considering that the anniversary of his wife's death was on September 16, it was… an enlightening experience. He hated the fact that he had to spy on something so private and to someone very dear to him, and resolved to not do anything of that sort to his friends, or any family that he may have in the future... at least when it was something that private.

As for Ayame, she was heartbroken from the disappearance of her mother and her soon-to-be born brother, both dead from her mother's sickness before she even made it to the third trimester. As such, she had replaced her 'future brother' with Naruto, who eight years old and 'freshly sealed' like a can of sardines was quite childish. She eventually separated the two after a long while but she still cared for him, despite the stigma that was created by their association… the information also coming from Teuchi's replay of his life. _'If anything… they're my family... my sister and my step-dad.'_ Naruto thought as pulled the curtains aside and sat down in one of the stools, too immersed in his thoughts to notice the wide eyes, and recognition that was caused by his attire and his current hairstyle from the people in the street.

"Hey, Ayame-Neechan, Oji-san, Miso Ramen to start with!" He called out, receiving greetings as they prepared his food. _'You two, you deserve so much more than this. I'm sorry, but I'm glad I met you. So very glad.'_ He thought, ignoring his use of the word 'glad' and watching them with teary eyes that they caught, wanting to ask, but didn't ask about, knowing that he'd tell them in time.

"Right now… It's so peaceful; I wish this kind of atmosphere could last forever." He said to them softly, the pair of cooks noticing the nostalgic air he was surrounded with. While they were in the kitchen, busy at their craft. There would be time enough later to find out why he seemed so melancholy, what mattered was that their family was together once again. Naruto never realized that they felt the same way, about him, and about the atmosphere. They'd tried adopting him but there were always roadblocks, so they just tried helping him as much as they could.

Receiving his miso ramen within minutes, he thought, _'I think I'll miss you two the most when I leave. No… I know so... hopefully with me gone, life would be easier for you.'_ as he dug in, happy with the fact that he was able to spend this time with them.

"Hehe, so, where did my otouto find such nice clothes?" Ayame asked, finding his change of clothing quite tasteful.

Grinning, he replied, "Well, I made it!" causing her eyes to widen in surprise, not knowing that her little brother was a fellow tailor.

"Really… I didn't know you knew how to tailor clothing? What did you use? Where did you get the materials, especially for that coat?" she began asking him questions, with Teuchi joining in the conversation as they cleaned up and closed their shop; their conversation lasting long into the night.

_'__I'll spend as much time here as I can, before I leave. It's the least I can do. Hehe, maybe you'll expand and I'll be able to visit your other stores then. Only the future knows.'

* * *

_

**- Chunin Exam Stadium, Konohagakure no Sato – **

**_October 8th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 9:42 A.M._ **

Genma Shiranui sighed, the whole situation was troublesome enough, but it'd only get more so from here… he'd just received word that the first match would be delayed. And knowing who was out training one of the participants in that round, he knew the reason why. He chuckled at his continuing thoughts. This probably worked out to their favor… since they would be coming late anyways, they'd just put Sasuke's and Gaara's match as the last one. "Heh, maybe this time, Kakashi would actually be on time. Kind of, anyways." He muttered under his breath, keeping an eye on his watch and the participants in his peripheral vision.

"Fuck." He stated, his thoughts wandering once again as he waited on the three participants still not present. News of the coming invasion had come through and the preparations had gone secretly and as careful as they could possibly have managed. Telling only Jonin and Tokubetsu Jonin about the situation and preparing before telling the Chunin three days before the predicted invasion date would allow the information that they knew of the invasion safe, and would keep the invaders from changing their plans. Looking back at his watch he called out, his voice easily reaching the crowd due to the microphone attached to his vest collar and the speakers set up around the stadium. "Five minutes to go before the start of the exams."

His thoughts moving on towards the missing participants, Sasuke was of course, taken by Kakashi to train. There was nothing different about that brat, the only change he showed was a greater amount of arrogance despite his still mediocre skills, an attitude that was prevalent throughout the majority of the Uchiha clan before they were wiped out. Both of Sharingan wielders had left late due to the fact that Kakashi was looking for his blonde pupil, but wasn't able to find him. Kakashi should have known better, Genma was an ex-ANBU and he had fun trying to take the kid down. As a fellow genius who acted like an idiot, or a lazy bastard in this case, Genma was surprised by the apparent growth rate of the boy's stealth and planning abilities once the second badly kept secret, the one where the boy's mind was tampered, had occurred… the genius of the boy flared through the idiotic mindset in the form of perfectly planned pranks and escape routes. Strangely enough, only the previous ANBU captain Iruka, code-named Iruka (Dolphin) was the only one to catch him... the name was genius though, no one would really expect the 'crappy' Chunin academy teacher as the water-jutsu slinging dolphin. Both he and Iruka had suspicions though, that something had happened in the Chunin exams to let more of the blonde boy through… it was something that they couldn't reveal to the Hokage, as they were already busy with the defense preparations, but they decided to let the boy roam free. The fact that nothing bad had happened despite the suspected memory or mindset re-attainment was only a plus on their side of the case. As for the rumors that he looked like their precious Yondaime… he shook his head at the stupidity of the populace… of course he looked like him, he was the son of the "Kiiroi Senkō"and the infamous "Bloody Chains." Their idiocy blinded them to the fact that the boy was always their son and alienated their hero's heir.

As for Dosu, the boy had not been seen since a week ago, and there were suspicions of foul play. It didn't matter, however, it was a ninja village, of course there would be ninja stuff going on… _'oh, never mind, here he comes.'_ He thought, noticing the entrance of the bandaged Genin.

_Beep, Beep._ Hmm, his watch beeped "Oh, 10:00, Ahh, it's time." Noticing that the other participants were not present, he called out. "Everyone, thanks for coming to the Konoha Chunin Selection Exams! We will now start with the main tournament matches… between the nine participants who made it through the preliminaries… some of course, are not present here." He called out, before motioning to the examinees to crowd around the piece of paper he now had in his hands.

"I am the proctor for the Chunin Exam Finals, Genma Shiranui. Here, this is the list of you and your opponents and the order of your matches."

Match 0: Dosu Kinuta Vs. Naruto Uzumaki

Match 1: Temari no Sabaku Vs. Shikamaru Nara

Match 2: Kankuro no Sabaku Vs. Shino Aburame

Match 3: Neji Hyuga Vs. Winner of Match 0

Match 4: Gaara no Sabaku Vs. Sasuke Uchiha

Quickly flipping it closed after he decided they had a good enough look at the paper, "as for the rest of the matches, we'll decide on the matchups once we finish this round. Now, head to the participant's box. Besides you, Dosu, you wait for your opponent here." He mentioned casually, tucking the slip of paper into his Flak Jacket as he nibbled on his lucky senbon. _'Dammit, I forgot my pocky.'_ He thought, disliking the metallic taste but unable to do anything to change it. _'Stupid Hayate just had to actually get sick and land me with this stupid job. Stupid asshole, because of him, I grabbed the only Flak Jacket I had that didn't have my pocky or my flavored senbon.'_ He continued grumbling in his mind before he noticed a shadow looming over the stadium… and it wasn't because of a cloud.

"Wha-?" he asked, shielding his eyes as he gazed upon the… cloth covered object that was descending rapidly towards the center of the arena. That was... familiar.

* * *

**- Uzumaki-Namikaze Residence, Konoha –**

**_October 8th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 9:09 A.M. A little more than thirty minutes earlier._ **

**_'Bwahahahah, you lazy bastard, you're gonna be late for your Exams if you don't wake up,'_** Kyuubi yelled out, doing a mental body slam against his… friend, causing the receiver to grumble and attempt to escape deeper into his bed. **_'You're not going to be able to leave properly if you don't get up right now!'_ **he yelled out again, his statement catching the boy's ears and causing him to jump out of bed and into the bathroom door**. _'Bwahahahah! You forgot that you closed that door last night! C'mon, get up, it's a busy day!'_**

"Shut up man, you're getting annoying. I'm up, I'm up." Naruto grouched, getting up from his failed 'epic jump' into the bathroom. "Now get outta my head for now, I'm going to get ready."

Five minutes later, he had taken a bath and was dressed in a similar outfit that he had worn to Ichiraku's two weeks ago. He had his clones make several copies and variations of his 'new' outfit from clothes he bought while in his Kanzen'na Henge (Complete Henge) and had seals applied to them. He kept the scraps, the reasoning being, _'The scraps would be useful for leading the Inuzuka off course.' _He was wearing a short sleeved white shirt, with the Uzumaki swirl on it, a navy blue jacket with a high collar and elbow-length sleeves, after he had wrapped the sleeves up, and pockets similar to the flak jackets the higher ranked ninja. He was also wearing a new pair of black cargo pants, with pockets on the side, which were seemingly empty, but merely had seals containing his supply of kunai and seal tags. He also wore a set of dark brown combat boots, which his pants mostly covered. _'Don't want to get something stuck in my feet at the wrong moment'_ he thought, bemoaning the fact that practically everyone wore toe-less shoes, which wasn't practical at all. As for accessories, he'd had a pair of fingerless gloves with seals that would issue kunai upon a specific pulse of chakra centered on his palm. _'It was a pain getting the whole array to respond to only a specific amount instead of dispelling whenever I'd mold any chakra.'_ Completing his outfit was an orange coat with white flames and the whirlpool symbol at the back, a belt with a buckle, and his Hitai-ate which he had around his neck (socks & underwear included… this version of Naruto wears underwear… most of the time). Making sure that he was presentable, he noticed that he'd gone and only slowly gotten dressed, taking more than fifteen minutes, leaving him with just a bit more than 30 minutes to make it in time to the exam stadium.

"Aw, DAMMIT!" he shouted out, creating two Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) to send his various 'going away' packages to the people he knew cared. Nodding as soon as they came into existence, they rushed off, carrying the letters and packages with them. _'Oi! Aniki, why'd you go and not tell me I took that long?' _he asked his tenant irritably, while he set the seals on the house to explode once someone that wasn't him set foot on it. They'd cleared it of all important items ages ago, leaving only the furniture with no markings as to whom they originally belonged to. A completely empty, previously unknown house was suspicious after all, and Sarutobi knew about the house, just not where it was anymore.

**_'And see yourself naked? Fuck no! I'd seen enough when you were a baby, hell no I'm not going to see it now!'_** he received in reply.

Grumbling at the reply which applied to their "guy code," _'Fine, fine. I gotcha… you ready for this?'_ he asked, receiving an agreeing grunt from his tenant as he raced along the rooftops of the buildings, an blonde and orange streak reminding people of one such man who did much of the same, except in yellow. Rushing in auto-pilot, he went over his plan. Once the invasion started, he'd create two clones, one to dispel immediately, starting his plan, causing hidden clones following the bandaged bastard to kill him, then another who would house Kyuubi and his chakra and powers, the technique Kyuubi used apparently very easy to use, making him question whether or not his best friend had used it before… and then they'd attack Sarutobi, and maybe Orochimaru as they made their way out of the soon to be war-torn city. '_Simple, No?' _he asked himself as he neared the stadium with roughly six minutes left to the start of the matches. The clones that he sent out to deliver the messages would protect the recipients at least until they dispelled, also making clones of themselves to disperse and distribute the information to the other clones about when to cause chaos on the battlefield.

**"Yeah… simple we're going to do this, and you're going to be safe… well, after we do some of that dangerous stuff."** Kyuubi muttered under his breath as he meditated on the floor of his cell, the plan he'd come up with similar to Naruto's in every way… until the part where they attack Orochimaru and the Sandaime. He only had one shot at this… Naruto was only mid Jounin Level at most without his chakra, or their teamwork. He himself, however, was Kage level in 'human form'… more so since he'd practiced some of the Jutsu Naruto had over the past two weeks, his practically infinite chakra allowing him to learn an insane amount of Jutsu despite the fact that he only had about three tails with him… the smaller amount allowing him overall better control, and the fact that as he was a being of Chakra, he had no set affinities… well, he'd just leave it at that.** "I hope you're ready, Tsukuyomi-sama... because I've only got one shot at this."** He called out, hoping that the temporary death god would hear him, his thoughts and words never reaching Naruto.

Coming up to the tallest building before the Chunin exam walls, Naruto spied a huge white sheet of cloth. "Hmm, Kyuubi, you thinking what I'm thinking?" he whispered softly to himself, too excited to care he was saying talking out loud, remembering the Second Exam Proctor… Anko Mitarashi... Before he moved over to the sheet and taking out some ink and a large brush. "Defenitely worth a minute or two late!" he grinned, never noticing that he didn't receive a reply from Kyuubi as he created two Kage Bunshin and setting them to paint the sheet as he took out four Kunai and tied them around the edges of the sheet. "Perfect."

He grabbed the left side of the sheet, holding the two kunai attached to the corners as one clone mirrored his actions, they threw themselves off the building and the third clone, using their affinity with wind jutsu, blew air into it with the Wind Release Stream, allowing it to rise. Reaching a sufficient height and distance above the stadium, he quickly used the Kanzen'na Henge (Complete Henge) to turn himself into a kunai that his Bunshin grabbed as it wrapped itself in the sheet and curled into a ball, plummeting towards the arena floor. Steeling itself for the pain of the landing and cursing his creator under his breath, he threw his arms and legs open spreading the banner out, and he dispelled, leaving the original in the form of a kunai to drop onto the middle of the sheet.

_'Stupid security of the stupid village... If it was me, I would have blown the dude trying this up.'_ Naruto thought to himself, as he landed.

**_'Right, go ahead and do that...'_** Kyuubi replied, reading his jailor's thoughts. **_'I'm surprised you tried this... if it was any other village... you'd probably be dead."_**

His tenant's laughter mocking him, Naruto mentally sighed at his occasional lapses in thought. _'Stupid me.'_

* * *

**- Chunin Exam Stadium, Konohagakure no Sato – **

**_October 8th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 10:02 A.M._ **

Genma held himself still, this piece of cloth reminded him of something… it definitely wasn't something that Orochimaru would use… still, he'd be careful. _'The guards above the stadium wouldn't just let something dangerous through... right?'_ he asked himself and tensing at the movement from the middle of the cloth. The figure disappeared in a puff of smoke, dropping a kunai into the middle of the cloth as it spread out over the floor as the kunai at the edges keeping it from blowing away.

Everyone present leaned forward in order to take a look at the writing which was barely visible from their seats, the kunai also dispersed into smoke, causing Genma to jump back and throw a kunai at the figure in response._ 'Dammit, what the hell is security doing?'_ he seethed inwardly._  
_

The kunai flew swiftly through the air, before being parried by another kunai, the figure hidden in the smoke slowly revealing a blonde figure with an orange coat, reminding many once again of the last person who wore a similar battle attire.

"Oi, oi, that's kinda rude, isn't it? I made my way over here to the exams to participate and the proctor throws a kunai at me… for shame." A familiar voice called out less loudly than most were used to, and more laid back as well, as the figure presented himself. "Hehe, what's up?" the figure now known to the crowd as Naruto asked, causing many to wonder at his wardrobe change. "Sorry I'm late, but I tripped over a root and made a clone to cut it off, and then I ran into a monkey and a snake fighting so I had to jump in and beat them up!" he said in a nonchalant tone, waving his left arm in a whimsical manner, reminding many of his irritating Sensei and causing them to cast his words off as nonsense, both Sarutobi and Orochimaru drawing parallels to their situation but dispelling it due to their information on the blonde.

**_'Naruto, watch it… that was too much information… and someone could catch you.'_** the Kyubi warned his jailor, not wanting all of their plans to go to waste. **_'It'd suck if we were caught now.'_**

_'Man, don't worry about it. Besides, everyone's discarded my words, used to Sensei's actions. And once we're gone… the fact that I knew about it will hit them harder.'_ He chuckled malevolently, causing both the proctor and his opponent to shiver unconsciously. "So, am I just in time?" he asked, looking around and wondering whether or not he'd be participating. It didn't matter anyway, he'd just spend more energy if he had to fight… the outcome would be the same, no matter what.

"Yeah, you're in time. Ready?" he asked, moving back in between them, receiving a nod from Dosu and Naruto holding up a finger.

"Hehe, one sec." he called out, picking up the sheet by the middle and whirling around and throwing it at a group of trees. The words on the banner saying: "Naruto Uzumaki, holder of the Ninth spot, Chunin Exams 163 AFK." Along the top and the bottom, with the Uzumaki swirl and the number nine in the middle. Looking back from his handiwork he turned back to Genma, who had face-palmed like so many in the crowd at the similarities between The Kyubi Jinchūriki and Orochimaru's Apprentice, and said, "Yeah, now I'm ready."

"Alright, Now, the first fight… Begin!" he shouted, signaling the beginning of the fight. At Genma's signal, Dosu jumped backwards, wary of the blonde due to his performance just now as well as the abilities he had shown in the preliminaries. Naruto, meanwhile, moved his right hand into one of the pockets in his cargo pants, drawing the eyes of the crowd, causing them to notice the lack of any 'gear' on him. As Naruto moved his arm, Dosu quickly threw a kunai at the blonde before he could move his hand out of his pocket.

The orange-clad ninja smirked, dodging the kunai easily, and pulled out book with an orange cover. This earned scornful mutterings from the females in the crowd before he moved to throw the book's cover away, revealing a black book that was larger than the cover and dumbfounding many of the spectators present. Opening the book slowly as he looked at his opponent with his peripheral vision, "Patience, Dosu… we're going to have fun with this fight… well, I am." he grinned darkly, causing the other Genin to step back involuntarily. "Here, catch." He said, infusing the book cover with wind chakra, and throwing with deceptive laziness it at the bandage-faced ninja. The book cover quickly flew through the air, cutting through it instead of flapping lazily and being blown away by any random gust. His only visibly eye widening, Dosu dodged the projectile and saw that it cut through several tree branches.

"What the F-!" he started to swear, backpedaling and looking around for the blonde who had disappeared in his distraction. "Where are you, Show yourself!" he called out, pulling up his right sleeve, readying his 'melody arm' and looked around the arena for his opponent.

"Hmm? You ready?" Naruto's voice whispered into his right ear, causing him to turn in that direction.

Finding no one, Dosu yelled out, "Show yourself!" annoyed, before he made to dash into the tree line. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder, making him jump forwards and turn in midair; he caught sight of the blonde with the book wide open. His eyes narrowed. "I'll teach you to make a fool out of me." He said, as he landed on his feet and dashed towards Naruto.

"On the contrary… I'll be teaching you that very lesson." the whiskered Genin stated calmly, watching his opponent. "Lesson one: Taijutsu." He stated simply, closing his book with a snap and throwing it straight up into the air. He waited half a second for the other Genin to strike, blocking the melody arm and ignoring the smirk that the other boy had. Grabbing hold of the 'melody arm' he shoved his shoulder into Dosu's chest, following up with an elbow to the stomach and a rising kick to the chin, throwing the other boy back with the force of the kick. Straightening out, he held out his right hand and caught the heavy looking book once again. Opening it up, he looked at his opponent's downed form with an eyebrow raised, "Is that all? I didn't feel anything from that. Are you done with your lesson?" causing the other Genin to swear under his breath as he pulled himself up, wondering why his melody arm wasn't affecting his opponent. Naruto flipped through the book, "Oh, looks like you need another. Hmm, these won't do… I'm saving that for later. Here it is, Lesson four: Teamwork." Closing the book once again, he jumped back and made a familiar handseal while he held the book to his chest. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" he said softly, creating four clones and giving a 'go ahead' signal with his free hand. The three clones sprinted forward, intent on crushing the already standing sound ninja.

"Oi, do the Uzumaki Taijutsu Combo Number Four: Shadow! That looks interesting." Naruto called out; looking at the book of techniques he had his clones make over the month. It contained ideas and lists for combos and Jutsu that could be useful. The first clone quickly rushed towards Dosu's left, while a second mirrored it to the right. And the last two kept rushing forward. Dodging and blocking their strikes, Dosu noticed that they were very synchronized, their covering of one another preventing him from making any retaliation. Slowly being driven back, he dispelled of one of the clones with a hit from his melody arm. Thinking that he was finally overpowering the clones, he spotted the other Genin still standing in the same area and smirked. Suddenly, the clones drew out some kunai, causing him to throw himself backwards as they threw it. He dodged the thrown kunai and several after, and decided to taunt them, thinking that they were tiring.

Dosu dodged the next set of kunai, grabbing them and throwing them back, dispelling the remaining clones. Standing back up, as straight as he could stand, he called out to Naruto, "Pathetic Leaf-Nin. Surely you could see that you couldn't bea-" as he heard a poof, the sound usually signifying the disappearance of a clone as the Uzumaki in front of him dispersed, revealing that he was a Bunshin right before he was knocked out by blunt force trauma to the back of the head.

Naruto had marked the disappearance of the first clone, and used a Kage Bunshin while his opponent was occupied to keep standing in his spot while he hid himself and waited for a time that he could use to strike. No need to waste chakra creating loads of clones, no matter how much he had, after all. He'd found the right time just as the other boy had started insulting him, and he'd proceeded to use the Kawarimi to place himself behind the pre-teen and knocking him out with a blow to the back of the head with the blunt end of his kunai. Naruto shook his head as his opponent dropped to the ground.

"Pathetic... is this how weak all sound shinobi are?" he spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear. "Proctor... please call the match. I win..." he told Genma, already heading towards the stairs that led to the participants' waiting room. The Kage Bunshin insects he'd planted two days ago right beneath the Kage booth made sure that he knew everything that happened in that booth if it was important. The Kage Bunshin he'd sent to tail Danzo had not only shown him his ROOT's headquarters, but any and all files that he'd need to set Konoha into an uproar. As soon as the invasion hit, all of his Kage Bunshin would revert to 'human form' and then proceed to light all the explosive tags they've created, but pulling off the Bunshin Daibakuha... Therefore killing not only Danzo but all of the ROOT agents that were dangerous or were 'too far down' the path of Danzo's madness. Reaching the door to the primary booth, he noticed that Shikamaru was about to forfeit and proceeded to roundhouse kick him off of the railing and into the middle of the arena. _'Hehe, couldn't have the Uchiha-teme not be here in time to start off the invasion. I need to take town the second one-eyed, bandaged bastard today, and I can't do that if he's not focused on something else.'_ he thought, sitting down to calm himself and get ready for his second match and ignoring the looks sent his way. _'After today... there'll be no need to receive these kinds of looks.'_ he thought to himself, inwardly happy that he would finally be able to 'fly free,' as it may.

Overlooking his jailor's thoughts, Kyuubi chuckled to himself, **"Yeah… you'll be able to fly free, unchained by even me. I hope you like my going away present."

* * *

**

**- Chapter 4: End -

* * *

**

**- Prologue: 02 Start -**

**~Messages to Friends~

* * *

**

**- Minato and Kushina Namikaze's Graves -**

**_Year: 1992. Time: 11:39 A.M._**

"It had been two years…. two whole years since that accident with Naruto occurred. But it's been almost three… or was it only two… since I've last visited you? But I was right, you know…" Inari Minami said to his friends. He chuckled mirthlessly, "They pulled the plug eventually. I mean, of course they would. But they pulled the plug on him… or so they thought. I've kept him safe, you know? His brothers and sister are fine… I never even told you their names. I'm afraid to tell you what they are… you'd just laugh at me… hehe, I have to admit, one of them has a weird name... but I'll leave their pictures here for you though," he said as he laid down a picture of three children down, looking like they'd soon reach their teens. "It was funny, you've always wanted four… and you did. The last 'one' turned out as a set of twins, a girl and a boy. So... in the end, you have three boys and a girl… I forgot to mention them to you last time because of how distraught I was… Still, I wasn't careful enough and Naruto..." he fell silent, just staring at their epitaph.

Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze

1953 – 1981 / 1953 - 1981

_"Have a little faith… You'll find the answers, we believe in you."_

~The best friends and role models anyone could ask for~

"Bwahaha,"he started laughing out loud, drawing the looks of several mourners. "Even now, you help me. Even now, you're still smarter. Fine… I'll find a way." Turning away from the tombstone, he put on a fedora, "He's still alive, you know. I've access to another lab, so I've kept his treatments going so that his body is just as good as it's always been. But it'll probably be a shock when he wakes up, him being all old and everything. I'm also a part of another project with similar goals… Hopefully, I found a way to help him from them." at that, he rushed away, hope blossoming once again in his heart.

* * *

**- Amaterasu's Court -**

**_Date: Unknown. Time: Infinite._**

Both Kyuubi and Tsukuyomi appeared in a burst of darkness, Tsukuyomi boasted, **_"How do you like that? Wasn't that an awesome way to travel?"_** before catching sight of the retching Fox-man on the floor. **_"Right. Well, off we go then." _**he made to move then paused,**_ "Actually, off I go then… I'll get everyone gathered. We'll see if they like your proposal." _**He said as he rushed out in order to gather the other Kami, leaving the still retching Kyuubi.

**_"Man, he's always so excitable."_** Said a voice behind him, causing The Kyubi to turn around and catch sight of his lord.

**"Inari-sama! How? I mean, how are you?" **he asked, glad to be in his lord's presence once more.

**_"It's okay; it should actually be me asking you how you are, Kyuubi. But never mind, it seems like everyone's gathered." _**He told his subordinate.

**"How did you?"** Kyuubi began, before he was interrupted.

Inari shrugged pointing behind him. **_"They're right behind you."_**

**"Oh. OH Sh-!" **he exclaimed, turning around and bowing to the deities.

**_"Never mind that!" _**Amaterasu exclaimed, cutting him off, **_"Now come, let us eat as you tell us of your plan." _**she motioned to the other room, the other Kami moving in after her. After being seated, she looked towards the still standing Kyuubi. **_"Will you not join us?"_**

**"It's not a won't, but merely a can't. You see, this is not my body, this is merely a copy but it has my soul within it, well most of my soul anyway. Besides," **he reasoned, **"this way, you could all relax somewhat while I reveal my plans to you." **receiving a nod from the now eating gods, he began.

**"You see, there is a man called Madara Uchiha. And… he plans to reseal all of the Nine Biju once again, creating the Jūbi, and like Susanoo-sama, he plans on sealing it within himself."** He began, before getting interrupted by Tsukuyomi.

**_"I've already told them this part. Continue to the plan. Better that it comes from your mouth, than from mine."  
_**

Nodding at him, Kyuubi began once again. **"Well, you see, the man's plan would work if the Nine were sealed into objects, or as in this case, Jinchūriki. The problem being, we decided as a whole to allow the humans to seal us into them, but it eventually caused madness, in the example of Shukaku. The Jūbi's evil chakra… is well, too evil."** He paused, at the lack of a better term. **"Not only that, but even as a Nine-tails before accepting the chakra, I have succumbed twice to the Jūbi's presence. Doing so causes not only memory loss, but a leak of the Jūbi's personality into ours from the shards of his self that accompany the chakra we accepted. We were not able to do something to reverse it, only on preventing it by teaching the humans the sealing art to allow us to live relatively peacefully. But problems arose in the fact that as far as most humans go, once something works, they usually accept it and don't go any further. So far, only the Uzumaki and the Namikaze have reached an understanding of the sealing arts we were to teach."** At this Kyuubi shook his head. **"So most of them continued with the 'crappy sealing,' and as far as I can tell, only Nibi, Hachibi and I have kept our relative sanities due to the peoples we were with accepting the sealing methods." **Causing murmurs among the deities. **"This may help us in the long run, though. There was a secondary effect to the sealing and the use of human and the Jūbi chakra… the Nine… we Nine 'Biju,' are now officially not deities anymore." **this statement causing alarm among those who had their subordinates go 'down below' and take the form of the 'Biju.'

Amaterasu steepled her fingers, long ago discarding the food in favor of The Kyubi's tale. **_"And… how does this help us?"_**

Kyuubi grinned ferally at her question, showing a side he never had before, **"The Nine, as we are no longer Kami… we are not bound by the statutes. The statutes that 'forbid' the Kami from interfering directly within the mortal realm. As we are still somewhat attached to deities, however, the Nine could act as your hands. We could fix this world, remake it. We could stop the madman and help this world as was our original plans." **His answer causing nods among the assembly.

**_"If what you said was true... what if they do not wish to help anymore?"_** she asked, **_"and, what is in it for you?"_**

He answered, **"If they won't, then I shall do it myself, alone. And it's for a promise. To my closest friends. To the clan that gave me back my sanity. To the family that had followed our teachings." **bowing his head at the memories flashing through his mind, and attracting the interest of the Kami.

**_"And what was that promise, Kyuubi?"_** she asked again.

**"That I'd keep their son safe, but I've made another one to myself, to help the boy attain his dream." **

**_"And… what is that dream?" _**she asked a fourth time.

**"To fly!" **he exclaimed. **"and to be free!"** his answer causing Inari to chuckle.

And so Inari asked him, **_"And what do you want, my friend?"_**

**"I wish to know if dimensional travel is possible." **His answer causing quiet laughter among some of the gathered, yet he continued on. **"If Naruto stayed here, it would be so hard, his dream would be crushed. He would be sought after if not for his ancestry, but for me as well, end even just as himself in the end. I want him to start a new life, one that would allow him to have his dream."** At this, the laughter became louder and more boisterous, causing him to clench his hands, almost drawing blood, but stopping just before he dispelled. He had to be careful after all, he had power and could resist a couple of hits, but it was better to be safe.

Amaterasu silenced her court with a glare, **_"Quiet! Or do you all wish to be punished? Here is someone who wishes to keep his promise, and even go above and beyond it. And as far as promises go, as Kami, we are all bound by our words. And here you are, laughing… for this… I shall punish you later… back to the matter at hand, however…"_** she turned to the Kyuubi with a softer gaze. **_"What you ask is possible. However, they usually would lose their memories, or their bodies, and maybe even both. We could make it-"_**

**_"Amaterasu-sama, forgive me for my interruption… but I've a solution."_** Inari called out as he moved towards The Kyubi.

**_"And what would it be?" _**she asked, intrigued. **_"Because there are no recorded instances of being able to attain both."_**

**_"Okay… well, what I have is a partial solution." _** He scratched the back of his head at this. **_"There is a man, my namesake. He… he is caring for this boy; this boy's parallel in a different dimension, if you will. Their world is completely different, however, his parents have existed here as well there but they are deceased. He has family in the form of brothers and sisters, but I forget how many. I was more focused on this man, as once again he is my namesake. You know, he does the most…"_** He began rambling before receiving a glare from both his subordinate and his superior, causing him to pause and sweat-drop. **_"…Right! In any case, the boy was part of a project that would create children with control over a unique form of travel, combat, and energy. They can 'fly,' with enough effort... It's the closest one could go to flying under one's own power, though. But the boy, his body is… not used, the boy's been in what they've categorized as a coma… but it isn't. Do you wish to see him?"_** he grinned, seeing them nod slowly.

* * *

**- NU-01's location, Dr. Minami's personal lab -**

**_Date: February 7, 1993. Time: 12:00 A.M._**

Three figures appeared in the lab, two men and a woman. All three of them completely invisible to the cameras occupying the room and to the body of the boy. Moving over to the boy, Kyuubi chuckled. **"It seems that even here, he can't get rid of those 'whiskers' of his. So, what's the problem, why's he categorized as someone in a coma?"** he asked Inari.

**_"The project was supposed to create children to harness this energy… don't ask me what, I don't really care enough to find out about it. But anyways, his mind continues to work, although he's already 'brain-dead."_** He said, earning him blank looks from the other two. **_"Hmm… the project was to 'create' children who were able to do amazing things such as withstanding great pressure, or even no pressure, able to move at high speeds and the like. One of these changes in their genetics would be an increase in brain activity, but their changes to his genetics only kept the body and their scientists from registering he was dead. The nerve connections and the brain activity only saying that he's alive, but he's not anymore. He's been dead a long time, his spirit has fled. If we had a chance to give your 'jailor' a new life, we could make even more alterations to his body… but the problem is… we can't."_** he explained, causing the Kyuubi to splutter indignantly and Amaterasu to catch onto the idea, causing her to giggle.

**"Bu-But you said…"** he started, before hearing their laughs. Realization dawned onto him, **"But… I can?"** he asked, receiving their nods. **"But I'm supposed to help there, the whole plan hinges on me staying and him coming over here!" **

**_"Silly little fox," _**Amaterasu began, **_"We are Kami. Gods. Divine beings? And this is a different world. You may stay here, in a form similar to the way you were sealed into… Naruto?"_** she asked, getting an affirmation from Kyuubi, **_"and make changes. We'll pick you up when you finish, then bring you back at the same time that you left. As for there being no use of chakra here… I'll accept their form of energy. It is, as of yet, unnamed by them. You'll have enough to be able to send a message to either me, Inari or Tsukuyomi. Don't worry, you'll feel it. Thank you for your time, Kyuubi. We shall meet again."_** She said as she grabbed him without preamble and shoved him into the body of Naruto. **_"Bye!" _**She then took hold of Inari and disappeared in a blinding flash of light the doctor who had rushed into the room only catching a glimpse of the light.

**"Ugh… no warning at all. Hehe, the shit I go through for you and your family, boy."** Kyuubi chuckled as he looked around. **"Dammit, Naruto, even here your mind is a sewer! Not a dirty mind, my ass. It seems like the default mindscape for you is a sewer." **He laughed as he pulled up a screen in front of him with an overview of this realm's Naruto, strikingly similar to those Character Creation screens on video games nowadays, if he knew what those looked like. Starting with the face and the hair, he looked only to find two whiskers instead of three on each cheek, and they weren't even completely aligned. **"Too much work. But, this is a good chance as any."** He said to himself, starting the changes to the child's body. He then grumbled, **"The hair doesn't even have the epic fur-like feeling! Fuck! This is going to take forever."

* * *

**

**- Minato and Kushina Namikaze's Graves -**

**_Date: February 13, 1993. Time: 6:15 P.M.; week after the Kami's visit._**

Dr. Minami walked up to his friends once again, stopping in front of them and waving at their pictures. "Hey… It's me again, 'Uncle' Inari. I don't even know why you guys even gave me that nickname. I just went with it, you know, I could never stop you guys from calling me that." He began nostalgically, before focusing on the reason he was back, "But, it has been another year. One more year, and I had feared that there isn't anything that I would be able to do for your firstborn. Anything I was able to implement did not help. The Brain Charger project... he hasn't responded to it." He began, "Well, his brain activity is spiking even more rapidly now, but it was weird." He paused, collecting his thoughts.

"His body, well, the monitors said he died at around midnight last week, and as I rushed into his room, I caught a glimpse of a flash of light, and then I stood there in shock and disbelief at his doorway... because his the monitors said his body functions were fine and that they were moving at an accelerated pace." He exclaimed incredulously, "It's like he's alive, I mean I know he's always been, but his brain activity isn't just for 'dreaming' it seems like he's living again. Not only that, but his body… there's no way to explain it. He's gaining muscles and his 'whiskers' have been getting deeper, and they're more aligned now. And he's started twitching and mumbling words I don't understand, but it's a great improvement. You know, only time will tell, but I think he may wake up soon. I just came to tell you that. Thanks for believing in me. Like you always have..." He turned away, "You know, I met this woman today on the way here, you'd like her, Kushina… Heh, this would be the first time I've gone on a date in… years now. Once Naruto wakes up, I think I may settle down or something." He laughed, waving to a woman with dark purple hair standing by the gate. "I'm going now. But I'll… visit you with them when he's back." He left the graveyard feeling loads better than he ever did before.

* * *

**- Minato and Kushina Namikaze's Graves -**

**_Date: October 10, 1995. Time: 12:04 P.M._**

The sun was shining as Dr. Inari Minami walked up to his friends' graves once again, only this time with a baby. "Hi guys… you know, it's weird. Naruto, I mean. He's showed signs of 'waking,' the whole muttering and twitching. But… he still hasn't. I can't wait anymore, and they've found him, and my other lab. So I'm bringing him to a hospital later. Ine Makigami, she is the girlfriend of one of your middle son, Spitfire… she'll be able to tell me when he wakes up, she's one of those 'tuners' I've told you about. And Minato... no dirty jokes, please."

"Hopefully, he'll be able to recover under her care eventually. But yeah, it's been a while since my last visit... over a year and a half now. Almost two years, actually. I married that woman that I met last time I visited, so, yeah. That's kinda why I haven't visited. Her name's Yuri and she's wonderful... and this," he said, holding up the child and revealing a baby boy, "this is my son, Itsuki. Ikki here turns one in a month. Say 'hi,' Ikki." He said, holding his son's hand then moving him back to his waist. "Naruto turns fourteen today, the oldest of your four children. He's changed even more, you know, he's gotten taller, and he looks so much like you, Minato but he has most of Kushina's facial structure. His hair's more awesome than either of yours though, it feels like fur… Itsuki couldn't stop playing with it on the way here. Hehe, such disrespect towards his 'cousin'." He shook his head.

"It's not all 'okay' news though… some other people got into the storage facility where we kept your genes, and I'm sorry to say that they took some of them. I don't know what happened, but I'll find out. They kept it from me, that the 'samples' which you punched me for, they kept the fact that they were taken roughly two years ago… and they didn't tell me. I guess I was more focused on the welfare of your children, so I might have just missed it. In any case, I'll find out what happened. Don't worry, though, they'll only be able to 'create' two more children at the most, one with certainty… with the genes they took, I'll find them before they do anything bad to them." He shook his head, somewhat mirthful. "You know, I don't know if you're doing this… but even when you're dead, you have even more children. Till next time, guys, I'll come when I have news."

* * *

**- Minato and Kushina Namikaze's Graves –**

**_Date: November 3, 1995. Time: 5:20 P.M._**

Inari trudged up the small hill to his friends' grave. Stopping right in front of them, he started talking, despite the battering winds. "You know, I found out who took them… the bastard who did found out that we had your genes… he wanted his very own 'genius mini Kushina,' the bastard… I made sure that he paid. I took her, and the others we found, and brought them to a different lab that I'm funding personally. I have people taking care of them now. Three sons and two daughters, my friends, one more than you wanted… but I'm sure you'll love them. They don't know their parents though… I've left snippets, but I only want to tell them the whole truth when they're altogether. Why you ask? Hmm… well, I don't know, I guess that it just wouldn't be fair if your eldest didn't know." he stopped, pondering the reason why he hasn't told them.

Shaking his head at his train of thoughts, he moved on, "The people that the man worked with though didn't know about the situation… they named her Mikan... I've kept your children safe… but the organization I'm working for is looking for me… and the others who were there at the start of the project. Your children will be safe, they could leave any time they wanted, and there's nothing there that could stop them. You know, they remember Naruto, and I showed him to them before I had to take him to the hospital last month. They keep asking me about him and I told them the truth. You know… that he's still unable to wake up, but that it 'seems' that he's close."

He sighed, "They were waiting for him to wake up, all excited for news about him every day, but when I left with him last month, they must have known something was up. They'll be able to visit him, because Ine knows." He started looking around, nervous.

"I hope you'll forgive me. I won't be able to come back here until we're safe; I'm going into hiding with the younger ones. I fear for my wife, my son, and your children, but your older children would be able to take care of themselves. Naruto will be safe; they're taking care of him. Hehe, I must sound like a broken record… but I have to go, it's dangerous out here for me, and They're hunting me down because I killed the guy, 'one of their best,' they said. Hah, I AM the best, and they'll regret it." He whispered as he left, his coat flapping in the wind.

* * *

**- Minato and Kushina Namikaze's Graves –**

**_Date: December 7, 1996. Time: 5:40 P.M._**

"Minato... Kushina..." Inari talked to his friends as the sun set while he sat down in front of their graves. "I've got good news and some bad news. The things Naruto's gone through since last year... they've changed him. Those things on his cheeks, like I've said, those 'whiskers,' they're there to stay. His hair, like I've said... is incredibly fur-like, which Ine loves and makes Spitfire jealous. Not only that, but the room chills and water gravitates towards him, much like fire and heat do when Spitfire's present. And... he has an increased regeneration rate like Ikki and Yuri have, as I've told you, but Naruto's is even more potent. His body... it's unreal, at the hospital, the equipment for his treatments broke, and before I was able to repair or send new ones over, especially since they take weeks to deliver... well... he showed a definite increase in his musculature and his muscle tone, as well as his predicted reflexes. And a tan... can you believe it! A tan? in a hospital room? underground! It's so surreal... that if he doesn't wake up soon, word is going to break out about his 'abilities' and they're going to tear him apart." He started crying. "His siblings, Ikki and Yuri have asked me why he hasn't woken up, and I don't know why. I don't know how to wake him up. I don't have any answers anymore. Tell me, please? How can I help him when I've run out of options!" he spoke to his friends softly, tears streaming down his face. "At this point, he's as much my son, as yours, so how..."

* * *

**- NU-01's location -**

**_Date: December 7, 1997. Time: Midnight._**

Kyuubi finally let himself out of 'NU-01's' body. It was time to go back... almost six years in this place... he laughed softly to himself. **"At least... this got rid of any separation anxiety... I left him a message anyway."** It was tiring, but he was able to get most of 'Naruto' into this one. There was no chakra network... but he still had two of his three affinities, and he worked to improve those. As for the rest of the body... it was almost a perfect replica. Almost being the fact that he could only do so much for the musculature, although the nerves and the reflexes were 'fixed' but it was nothing a good set of training sessions couldn't fix. The other two being the fact that there wouldn't be any more 'Kyuubi' within him... except for something similar to an AI that he'd set up as an afterthought. And the fact that he forgot about the specific gene sequence his regeneration factor would have needed. Therefore it was 'crap' compared to one he'd tampered with before, the one from 'the original' Kushina and Minato. This was the best place for him to stop, there wasn't much else he could think to give, other than the ability to piss liquid gold, and shit priceless jewels... but he'd take a guess and say that Naruto wouldn't like that.

**"Too bad he wouldn't have his jutsu... he'll have some water and wind manipulation, and that 'energy.' Hmm, as far as I could tell, Amaterasu-sama the 'energy' should be chakra's substitute, so at least he'll have some form of jutsu... at least the seals work."** he speculated, pondering whether the things would work, before sighing. **"I've already taken long enough here, he'll figure it out. He isn't a 'true' Genius for nothing."**

Moving through the handseals to send a message to Amaterasu-sama, he looked over to the sleeping form of the man who stood by Naruto despite the facts that pointed out that he might never wake up. A man similar to him in many ways, the most striking being their vigil over said children. **"Good-bye, Inari take care of him. He'll be here... sooner or later." **his message reaching the unconscious man, who nodded unconsciously right before the only conscious being in the room disappeared in a burst of light.

* * *

**- Minato and Kushina Namikaze's Graves –**

**_Date: December 13, 1997. Time: 7:40 A.M._**

Inari Minami slowly trudged up the small hill once more, accompanied by Ikki, his wife, and his best friends' children. The little four year old Mikan held in his arms as he led her siblings to their parent's graves. He didn't want to, but he had to. They all had to know, despite him not being there. Naruto was in a coma, as of late night, December Seven, 1997. They'd put him in a Cryogenic Chamber two days after.

The body reacted to stimuli, but the mind would not register it. He was no longer 'dreaming,' giving them hope. Hope that they would eventually find a way to wake him still lay there, but they decided to leave him... at the age of sixteen, they were going to put his body in the freezer, with hopes of eventually finding a way to wake him. It was already crappy enough for the kid that he would wake up, after 'going to sleep' at the age of eight, that they weren't going to go past sixteen. His thoughts continued in a downwards spiral, before his wife patted him on his shoulder, stopping him as he neared his friends' graves.

Stopping the group right in front of his friends, he knelt down and faced the Sunrise. He began speaking to their grave in attempt to stave off his thoughts, "Hey guys, this is Inari again with my wife, Yuri and my son, Ikki. I also have your children with you, but Naruto can't make it. Not yet. Your other children are here though... here's Mikan, Spitfire, Kilik and Simca..."

* * *

** - Prologue: 02 End -**

* * *

**- Post-Chapter Author's Notes -  
**

I'm still having some trouble somewhat with my separation of the chapters... If you have noticed, however, each section's location and time/date/whatever has been changed to the middle. I was reading my story and decided a change of... 'breaks' was in order. I'd still like to double the space between paragraphs, but I've not managed to find out how.

I tried stopping, in order to work on my homework/essay thing for my history class, but I couldn't stop .

But the words floweth from the bitchy mouth of my muse... she seems to want me to increase the word length per chapter by a rough estimate of 3k words per chapter.

CH1: ~5k ; Ch2: ~8k ; CH3: ~11K ; Ch4: ~14k, almost up to 15...

So if I seem quite terribad at chapter length consistencies, I apologize. If my story is long winded, I apologize, but that's just the way I've written it, and I'm constantly trying to cut down on the chapter lengths, but they increase instead :(. Hope you guys like it though.

As for Kyuubi knowing the deities... well, foxes are generally accepted as Inari-sama's messengers, and what better way to show the sealing arts to mortals, than to send his own messenger? Hmm... for the others, I'm not too sure, the only one I specifically know off of the top of my head would be the Bakemono, the two-tailed ghost/demon cat. I'm also stating it now, and may include it in a later chapter, but probably not... Kyuubi being as agreeable as he is towards a kid is weird. But with the more 'dangerous' part of his soul sealed somewhere with toad people, he can't help but be somewhat good. His interactions with Kushina would have been forged after being together as friends for years, and with their clan. He would have been more rough... hehe... with the female Uzumaki Jailors, but with the boy only receiving the 'good half,' well, let's leave it at that.

As for 'Inari' Minami... there's not much known, so I decided to put my own spin on him/it. If he wasn't Ikki's dad, and the Gravity children were not created from genes of 'awesome people'... then once again, this is AU. XD

The energy... how shall I say this... WTF? there's no inclusion of the 'energy' in Air Gear... so even the deities don't know wtf the energy is called, but they only know it's there.

And for Naruto's hard-earned (kinda) awesomeness... He'd be too powerful otherwise. He's already smart, has awesome reflexes (not unlike other Gravity children, but better, I'd say), is pretty damn strong, and has uber-jutsu... I had to cut it down. But no worries, he'll retain some of his epic-ness. Besides, it's not as if I'm going to showcase his epic jutsu next chapter when... hmm... too much. There will be one thing he retains... well, two. His sealing abilities... and his Super-epic-fur-like-hair. Any other stuff I'll put in will be revealed on the next few chapters.

But yeah, my prediction that this will take between 5-7 chapters for the actual 'Air-Gear' ness is still correct... Of course, I'll be shoving more words per chapter, probably. But isn't that always a good thing?

Till next time,

Margulide


	5. That Great, Big Rest Stop in the Sky

**Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own the Naruto franchise nor the Air Gear Franchise… They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Oh! Great (_Ōgure Ito)_, respectively...**

'**_Thoughts.' _/ **_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" / **"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

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**- Pre-Chapter Author's Notes -**

Alright, it's somewhat a week late, but here it is. I was too busy with my reports for my classes, and an issue with computer usage...

This chapter... hmm. It was a pain to write, mainly because of my conflicting emotions about the whole thing. I'll elaborate in the post-chapter A/N though, so if you want to read my thoughts, or find an explanation, it might be there.

**King of Kings** - "sigh, naruto is being inconspicuous, huh? as in, all his veiled comments, actions, etc are about as blunt as as troll club to the head, any idiot even a little in the know would figure out that something's changed."

Well, there you go. someone's caught it... and yes, it was deliberately put in there, and I was actually planning on addressing that in a re-write of the chapter. But since you've shown it for all to see, I've gone and just put in a little section in this one to address that little issue.

And, as for the whole 'troll club to the head,' Sure, I agree.

Yes, people notice something different, but who wouldn't. I mean, surely... not the hidden village who couldn't catch the retarded prankster who wore 'kill-me' orange and was only caught by his teacher, which I say he completely let himself be caught by, BTW (BTW = By the way).

The same village who had gotten their **'ZOMG SUPER-SCROLL!'** _*Cue chorus*_ stolen by said child in said Orange JumpSuit .

The SAME village who has has ninja who have Pink Hair, and don't make them dye it.

Who have recreated the same Ino-Shika-Cho combo that surely will get them killed by enemy strategists who've plotted their parent's death and would test it out on the newer generation,

Who enslave their families with a seal that is canonically (in Manga) shaped like the Buddhist symbol for eternity/immortality...

Yes. Surely. I completely agree with you.

But it's not much worse than other **"'Un-Sealed' Naruto"/ "ZOMG! I HAZ HEEDUN MAI POUTEIYNSHULS FRUM YALLZ SINZE DA AKADEMIES!"** Fics I've seen out there (No way am I dissing Sealed Kunai by Kenchi618, which Pwns BTW... I'm merely giving examples of the types of fics that do this sort of thing all of the time. :P).

And once again, any inconsistencies I have written in my story... please send message/review and I shall elaborate/gestu-speculate and edit the story, or answer it in a later chapter, if it isn't too difficult. If it is though, I shall go and fix it up.

**Nov 17. EDIT: A friend of mine who read this fic, and the reviews as well, has found an error. My reply to the reviewer, which I stated was mosh, was actually King of Kings... so yeah. My bad there, mosh. As for the next chapter, I've already finished about half of it. It should be up... by, maybe... this weekend?**

**as for the chapter edits, itself, I'm having trouble with underlines sometimes... it's really annoying. Especially if there's a whole block that suddenly don't have any of them. Hmm, and for Dr. Inari's words regarding calling Naruto, 'Mal,' I changed the weren't to were, making it as I had originally intended. I'm not sure where the 'weren't' even came from.**

**Other than that, minor spelling changes and some attempts at fixing the 'underline' problems.  
**

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ACL: 15,311 (Word Length- from FF dot Net)

Posted: November 15, 2010.

Updated: November 17, 2010.

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**Maelstrom Road**

**Ch 5…**

**~That Great, Big Rest Stop in the Sky~**

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**- Chapter 5: Start -**

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**- Kage Booth, Chunin Examinations Stadium, Konohagakure no Sato –**

**_October 8th, 163 AFK (After Founding of Konoha). 1:37 P.M. _**

Orochimaru, in the guise of the Yondaime Kazekage, turned to Sarutobi Hiruzen asking, "Are you trying to tell me something, Hokage-sama?" causing the elderly man to grit his teeth at Nara Shikamaru's attitude and his match.

Calming himself down, he answered back "Any slight caused by this boy," he shook his head, "is not intentional. I myself am perturbed by his attitude towards his career. I was drawn into his match, and I have to admit that he is indeed a good strategist." He sighed, "But compared to the rest of his clan, he doesn't seem to realize the fact that there is a time for action, and a time he is allowed to rest. So, I apologize for the wait. It has been somewhat tiring for me as well."

Grinning behind his mask, the Pseudo-Kazekage chuckled slightly, "I do have to admit, my daughter seems to have acted quite roughly against him." He commented as Temari had finally gotten tired of Shikamaru's performance and decided to end it, blowing him away along with the trees, dirt, and whatever was present in the arena with her weasel summon.

Sarutobi chuckled in response, "I do hope the next match is short," he replied as he got up, stretching. "Forgive an old man, but sitting down for such a long while seems to have locked up some of my joints."

"No worries, Sandaime-sama. I understand." _'I understand that the village will burn!' _Orochimaru laughed in his head, as he viewed his Sensei stretch. _'I will kill you and take over Konoha. But there are certain things that intrigue me. Namely, the Uchiha and his absence… as well as Naruto's increase in skill despite his attack and his Five-Element Seal. Kabuto and the other spies have reported that despite Jiraiya being here, he hasn't gotten my seal removed. So how did he-?' _he asked, as he heard Kankuro forfeit his match, causing his gaze to zero in on the Genin. _'If that boy throws off my plans, I shall personally see to it he dies.' _

Meanwhile, Sarutobi watched Orochimaru from the corners of his eyes. Oh, he knew it was Orochimaru… He was the Teacher, the Sensei after all. _'Ahh, so you are invading… now of all times. And it seems that Suna is your ally, if the Kazekage truly had you take his place. Hmm, does the Suna contingent even know that you're not the Kazekage?' _He shook his head, _'What's done is done. All that's left is to repel their invasion. With Jiraiya here and most of the Konoha shinobi present as well… we have a good chance to do exactly that.'_ His eyes moved over to Naruto as he walked calmly out of the Examinee's box. _'What happened, Naruto? Did something happen in the forest of death? Did Kakashi do something with you that he hasn't reported?' _he mused, glad that the boy was finally maturing into a young man worthy of his 'unknown' parents.

He'd have to get the information from Kakashi later, when he finally showed up, and thank him for being such a good Sensei, changing Naruto for the better. Sure, he did seem somewhat pessimistic and somewhat sarcastic, but the reports from their Wave mission and the fate of the young nuke-nin may have changed his views on shinobi life. It was a definite improvement from the idiotic, yet lovable boy he'd been since the age of eight. He chuckled inwardly at some of Naruto's attempts at mimicking Kakashi.

_'Why hasn't he visited me lately though?'_ he pondered, wondering why Naruto wasn't seen much in town other than when he went to eat at Ichiraku's. He'd sent some ANBU out to watch him, in case Orochimaru was also after him, and if he had left the village, the seals he'd applied to monitor the village exits would've signaled his departure. '_He was probably just training for his match with the Hyuga.' _He reassured himself. _'It's not like the blocks and seals I had Inoichi put on him disappeared or anything like that, right?' _he scoffed at the absurd idea, as he saw the Hyuga boy meet his grandson on the field. The whole attitude change may have very well been Naruto's response to Kiba's taunts and his desire to be the best, and his goal of being Hokage._ 'Some may say it's suspicious but if I didn't know who my parents were and held them in high regard in my mind, compounded with the trauma of my first C turned A rank mission... It was merely a wake-up call I would need to be a better shinobi.'_ He shrugged inwardly, looking down at his surrogate grandson and the Hyuga prodigy. _'Better late than never.'_

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**- Chunin Exam Stadium, Konohagakure no Sato – **

**_October 8th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 1:42 P.M._**

Naruto yawned as he got up from his meditation spot in the Chunin Examinee Booth. He stretched, awaiting the next match. Truly, Shikamaru was smart, freaky smart. Someone to be overlooked, but was able to catch you off guard. He shook his head, _'But the asshole's way to lazy.'_ Shikamaru had taken three hours for his match. He snorted, _'I only took ten minutes, and most of it just_ _messing around with my opponent and him not being able to sense me.'_

He'd expected to go and wait maybe twenty, thirty minutes at most for the pineapple head's match to finish, allowing a grace period due to his apparent laziness and predicted skill level. But no, the retard blew his calculations out of the water, because there really was no way he was either a 'genius' or as skilled as he thought if he took that long, and such a roundabout way, just to be blasted away in the end without even getting a 'check' against the Kunoichi. Not only did he end wasting the time, but Naruto knew if Shikamaru was able to fight Temari to a stalemate, that he would have gotten a promotion, because of his 'genius tactical skills.' He may have, had he actually put more effort into actual training, and not just gone through some more Clan Techniques.

Konoha's decision-making skills were horrendous, and it supplemented their arrogance gained from their 'victories' in the wars. Had Konoha not procured amazing individuals, especially their Hokages… they would have been wiped out. Hashirama prevailing against Madara. Tobirama obliterating his opponents, ending the First shinobi war with his death. The Sandaime against all of the other Kage in their free-for-all battle during the second war. And the Yondaime against Iwagakure and Sunagakure for the third...

The Sannin weren't even fit to be put on the same scale as they were. They were only let go after losing to Hanzo the Salamander of Amegakure. He himself giving them the Title of Sannin for 'challenging' him and impressing him. Showing their arrogance, Konoha twisted his words around, and without rebuke from Hanzo, who had disappeared from the face of the planet soon after… they were able to bring fame for the three losers. True, nowadays they were 'the best' but seriously, if the rumors were true… they were pathetic, The Sluggish Drunken Gambler, The Irresponsible Perverted Toady and the Insane Pedophilic Snake. Truly, deserving the title of 'THE SANNIN.' The only other Konoha 'Legend' that had his admiration, besides the Shodaime, Nidaime and his Parents was his Sensei's Father, Hatake Sakumo the White Fang… He didn't agree with the way he offed himself, but hey, if he had people he cared about that turned their backs on him when he needed them… he'd be pretty messed up too.

He scoffed inwardly, deciding that he was showing too much of his disdain towards Konoha on his face and his actions. True, he had wanted to be inconspicuous… but his attitude had drawn up flags already, and he saw that any attempt he had made out in the open was monitored closely. Any chance that he had of leaving without notice went down the drain because of his actions. Sure, he would have been able to leave if he wanted, but he knew from some of his hidden explorations of the seals present on the Konoha walls… that the Sandaime had seals present that would monitor his departure from the village. Any attempt to dispel or remove the seal would alert the man. If he tried to leave, the Sandaime might realize something was up. If he was still his cheerful and goofy 'other' self, if he'd left the village, he wouldn't be monitored as closely.

He was mad at himself, but then again, with him only being around seven years old when he was sealed… sure, he did review the memories his 'other' had, and despite his mental growth over their 'fusion' for lack of a better word, their combined idea of subtle was pretty bad at the time. He'd reassessed his views through the past month of looking through the library in his own special version of Henge, as well as his memories and decided that he'd acted rashly. If he really wanted to be inconspicuous and leave without notice… he probably should've continued acting like his old dumbass self. _'But then, if anyone else was sealed for years and wanted to vent some… they'd do it too. To be honest, I would have probably ended up doing something stupid like farting from too much concentration… but winning from my opponent's distraction.' _he shivered, as a vision of himself doing exactly that in his orange jump-suit appeared in his mind. Deciding that truly, it was pretty farfetched, he discarded the thoughts relating to that… debacle. '_Ahh, if only I could've gone back to right before the match, I could've left the village during the month grace period. Too late for that now, though. What's done is done. I'm going out with a bang.' _

He chuckled at his thoughts as he twisted his head from side to side and cracked his neck, doing the same to his back and spine as both were somewhat stiff from sitting there for hours. He ignored the stares from the other people in the box, they were irrelevant. He had to give the boy some points though. Shikamaru's match was perfect for his preparations anyway... because the damage from Dosu's attack really did break the eardrums in his right ear and confused the heck out his cochlea. The only things that allowed him to continue were his focus, and the fact that he never got motion sickness anyways. Had it been anyone else, they would have been hard pressed to push back and beat Dosu. Besides, in addition to his healing time, it allowed him to check over their plans to make sure there would be nothing that could throw a wrench in the works at this point. He'd originally planned on leaving inconspicuously… but as Konoha's overall 'hero-worship' and their arrogance raised their heads once again, well… he'd give them a performance they'd never forget. He was irritated at the way Neji ruthlessly beat Hinata. Sure, he didn't like her too much, but it might've just been his newfound view of her after seeing her in his memories. She was a great person, but a terrible Shinobi. Her heart was too soft, and he knew that if they ever had a mission together, he'd give 20 to 1 odds against her, that she'd be a liability merely from his presence. Still, those two were family… and family shouldn't do that to each other.

Not to say that he wasn't irritated with her attitude… actually he was, but right now, the only irrational irritations he put any thought to were his new dislike Neji, and for Shikamaru and his lackadaisical attitude. _'Genius Tactical Skills my ass._' He told his mentor.

**_'Damn right.'_** The Kyubi groused, also tired from just being in the presence of the match. **_'That Temari chick was awesome though. Her last Jutsu destroyed the field! Truly deserving the title of Kunoichi, and a woman.' _**Naruto agreed, because as he said, truly, Temari was patient, a good ninja, she was able to keep most of her calm throughout the performance of their fellow shadow-wielding Genin. She finally decided to finish the match off by blasting half of the arena away with her ninja weasel summon, probably deciding she wanted to get rid of the irritant, and with the 'Irritated Woman Boost…' that gave women insane amounts of energy that allowed them to revert to perfect health after kicking the ass of whoever irritated them… the Nara ended up with cuts all over his body and was partly crushed by the trees which were thrown about the arena. **_'It's also weird. The Scarecrow and Fan-boy haven't appeared yet.'_** Kyuubi told him, making fun of them and their names a hobby of his.

Naruto started to nod his head in agreement, when he was interrupted by Kankuro's shout of "I forfeit!" causing Shino to glare at the boy in the black cat-jumpsuit from behind, causing said war-paint/make-up wearing boy to shiver from the dark feeling.

"Why? Is it to hide your skills? The fact that you use puppets? We all know that." Shino asked his supposed opponent, mad at the other Genin's snubbing of his chances to make Chunin.

"Or is it the fact that you want to show Konoha a puppeteer's performance after your brother's match?" Naruto taunted him, causing the other Genin to gulp nervously. "Che, whatever, I don't care, at least it's my match now. Make sure you charge for admission!" He said as he walked towards the door beside the Sand Genin. He whispered to him as he left. "Pray to whichever Kami or God that you worship… that I don't meet you again. You are pathetic. The very least you could do for your joint invasion is to keep people from being suspicious." His words only reaching Kankuro, even as he turned the corner. The wind element truly was a wondrous thing, allowing him to talk to certain people individually, bringing the messages directly to their ears. The sound Genin had given him the idea after his boasting of the abilities of his 'melody arm.' '_I guess I have to thank him for something.'_ Receiving a memory from a dispelled Kage Bunshin, He started walked briskly down the stairs, catching the attention of his longest friend.

**_'What's with the hypocritical message? And what's the hurry?'_** he asked, wondering about the words and why he started to hurry all of a sudden.

_'Kakashi and Sasuke are here. They've reached the outer gates. One of my clones on the outside relayed it to me. And, well, I don't like him, might as well make him suffer.' _He replied, turning the corner and walking towards the proctor, _'And I sense that they're going to attempt to appear 'just in time for their match_. _It's hilarious… they will be, if I hurry my match up. Or should I slow it down, letting them gawk? Either way, they'll come in at the most inopportune time like when me and Neji are in the middle of our battle.'_ he told his partner as he stopped beside the Bandana-wearing, senbon-chewing Jonin.

**_'Don't mess around. Enjoy yourself though, and warm up some before the invasion starts. Hehe, I think even Orochimaru and Hiruzen got tired of that long-ass match. I saw both of them twitching occasionally with one of the Kage Bunshin you've set up under their booth.'_** He replied as Naruto noticed Neji Hyuga walking towards them from the Hyuga's Clan Box. He was the girliest dude he'd ever met until they found out about Haku, who pretended to be a boy, but they noticed that she was really a girl when they buried her… That whole situation was confusing. Reliving his 'other's' memories, it was the first time Naruto was attracted to a guy, was glad that it was really a girl, but saddened that she died.

Going back to Neji, however… he was the most stuck up person his age that he'd ever met. And he was going to break him. Break him for treating family like that. No one harms their own family members. Not in front of him, and especially if he was there to see it… he'd just have to settle for beating him up belatedly for that transgression. Hmm… actually, he just wanted to beat one of Konoha's 'Geniuses' into the ground. Kyuubi seemed off somehow, like he was impatient. Originally, they'd both wanted to showcase his skills, but then again… plans change.

_'Going to kick his ass quickly and just in time for Sasuke's match it is.'_

Genma looked at the participating Genin as they approached. He was surprised at the Uzumaki's prowess, and he knew that despite what happened, he'd make Chunin in his book. As for the Hyuga… if he'd let go of his hatred. Shaking his head, he turned away. it wasn't his place after all. If it happened to him, he'd probably hate a lot too. When Naruto reached him, he focused on the changes, trying to see any semblance of the 'knucklehead' in him. The name was double-edged… although endearing, it merely allowed the bigots to call him names in public without reprisal. They weren't talking about him housing The Kyubi or being it, merely on his stupidity. He was glad that the now fifteen year old, physically, teen had broken out of his previous actions. Maybe this would erase the title of 'knucklehead' from him eventually he mused, if he won the exams and made Chunin. The supposed 'dead-last' beating the 'Geniuses.' He scoffed; they'll see that their Geniuses had little chance against this boy, especially if he played his cards right.

As Neji approached, he saw the calculating look that the Jonin was eying them with. He'd been surprised that the failure from the year before him, his year, and dead-last of the year after had made it to the Chunin Exams, the Finals nonetheless. It didn't matter though. He was going to win, fate decreed it.

As both boys stood there, watching each other, Genma asked, hoping for another good fight from the Blonde Genin, "Are you both ready?" receiving a nod from them. "Alright!" he called out, "The third match, between Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Neji! Begin!" he jumped back once again, he didn't want to be caught off guard like he did at the end of the last match. The Kunoicihi's attack was really strong, something he didn't expect from a Genin. The fact that she was a girl and had large reserves at her rank and age didn't matter, his girlfriend, Inuzuka Hana was an example of that. And if Temari brought out one of her 'Big Jutsu,' then everyone will follow suit. He grinned, always the same in every Chunin Exams. Once someone brought out their 'big guns,' everyone started flinging them around.

Meanwhile, both Genin stayed in their spot, watching each other for any movement. Naruto, like he had in his first match against Dosu, reached down into his pocket with his right hand, causing the other boy to activate his Byakugan, and charge forward, attempting to take him out quickly like Dosu had.

Keyword: Attempt.

Naruto laughed inwardly, as he used the Kawarimi to appear on the other half of the field and created a Kage Bunshin and have it masquerade as him as he observed the match. _'Bwahaha, it's the exact same thing, and they both do the same thing. Better sense than most though, it's not good to allow an opponent to take their weapon out if they haven't had done so already.'_

Taking out pair of sunglasses and a deck of cards with intricate designs on the back as he walked out from behind the tree, the clone remarked to the other Genin, "Oh? Didn't want me to enjoy myself this match, eh? Bad form, Neji." Causing Neji to growl at him. Naruto calmly put the sunglasses on his head, like a headband, resting it behind the top of his bangs for the moment as he slid into a defensive stance, his left hand holding the cards behind him and his right held in front of him as he waited for the other Genin to attack. "Aww, now that I'm ready? You won't attack me?" he mocked Neji, making him growl once again. "Aww, c'mon, the whole dog-bit doesn't work for you, maybe if you cut your hair and mark your cheeks like the Inuzuka, they'll teach you how to growl properly. Or is the stick shoved up your ass causing you pain?" he taunted, still waiting for the other Genin's reaction.

"Who are you to taunt me, dead-last? For your words, I'll make sure that you will suffer more. Fate has decreed that you will lose, give up, and I shall spare you. Failure." He spat, settling into the Juken stance.

"Right… so how do you talk to fate?" Naruto asked, getting annoyed at the name-calling, "I mean, is she a chick, or a dude? Do you help her with her hair? I mean your hair looks nicer than Sakura and Ino's and they probably spend all their time fixing their hair and makeup." He replied to his opponent's idea of insults. Simple words like dead-last and failure were an easy way out of insulting someone, true, he'd us some of them. But it got really repetitive after a while. He shook his head as he motioned for the other Genin to move closer, "So, you coming or what? We haven't even started the fight yet and you're already talking like I have no chance in hell of beating you."

"Fate has stated that I am to win. No one could beat the Hyuga, the strongest clan in Konoha. You are not the effort to move over there, if you wish to fight me then come, dobe." He stated, ignoring the jibes from Naruto, who was grinning at his statement.

"Fine. You want me to come then I will. I'll beat you and your 'Fate.' There's only one fate for a person." Naruto said, as he pulled a card out of the deck, revealing a picture of the Shinigami. "Death." Channeling his chakra and infusing it with his wind element, he called out to Neji "Here's your fate, jackass." as he threw it, rushing after the card, his left hand holding the deck and the right hovering over it.

Neji, meanwhile, dodged the card… he'd seen what the male blonde had done with the cover of his earlier book, still embedded into the trees, escaping female blonde's wide-scale wind attack. Smirking he turned his attention towards the other Genin as he closed in. _'Idiot. No one can best the Hyuga in Taijutsu. I have you where I wanted you."_ He spread his arms wide, and lowered his center of gravity. '_Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)_ _should show him my superiority.'_

Naruto grinned at his actions, unnoticed by the other Genin who was more focused on his skill. Activating the time-delayed tags on the explosive cards, he moved into the range of the other Genin's technique, his plan coming into action.

As soon as he moved into range, Neji called out "You are in field of my divination! Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!" starting the sequence with two strikes, then four, eight, sixteen, and ending with thirty-two, calling each section as he doubled the speed of his strikes. The technique threw the other Genin back, and caused him to drop the deck of cards. Neji grinned, "You see, you are not worth the effort, beaten by one technique," he called out to the downed form of Naruto, before his eyes widened even further than they had in their 'active' state as he heard a sizzling sound from his feet. _'The cards were explosive tags?' _ he thought, before starting the one technique that would save him from any damage. Spinning to the right and expelling his chakra from his chakra points, he called out, "Hakkeshō Kaiten (Rotation/Heavenly Spin)!" as the explosive notes/cards detonated.

A few moments before, Naruto watched impassively as the Kage Bunshin he'd sent out was taken out by the rapid strikes, and was only kept alive through a chakra string that he connected to him just before the attack hit, and disconnected it just after his clone took all of the subsequent ones. His plan was pretty good, except for the fact that he didn't know the Hyuga would pull off the Kaiten. As far as he knew, the only ones who used the move were the 'Main Members' of the clan. He had to give the boy credit then, for being able to recreate a technique by himself. As he watched the spinning, he threw a kunai at the Hyuga and rushed away, wary of the 50 meter distance that Neji's range had, as of two weeks ago. Watching Tenten help him figure out the distance and the weak spots with his Kage Bunshin over the past month allowed him to find out that much. The Kunai, however, reached Neji a bit too late, as he stopped spinning roughly two and a half seconds after he started the technique. The technique lasted for six seconds, as far as he knew, the technique could be held indefinitely if the person had a large enough supply of chakra. Naruto smiled, this was a challenge indeed.

Neji was startled by the sudden appearance of a kunai from his opponent, but from where he didn't know. He seethed; No one escapes the all-seeing eyes of the Hyuga. Grabbing the kunai as he finished his technique, he looked over towards the downed Genin in front of him, and threw it at him. To his surprise, his opponent quickly jumped out of the way, catching the Kunai as he back flipped to his feet. "Naughty, Naughty! Neji-Chan!" he sang out in a sing-song voice, "trying to use my own Kunai in an attempt to hit me. It's not polite to use other's things without permission you know?"

Neji, angered by the other boy's taunting, not being able to take such hits to his pride, ran towards the other Genin, who started moving into a defensive stance. Hurrying in an attempt to take him out and wondering how why his tenketsu wasn't sealed despite the blows he struck, he struck the other Genin with simultaneous lethal Juken blows to the heart and brain, yelling, "How are your chakra points still unblocked?" as the other Genin started to glow.

"Boom." The Genin whispered in answer as he exploded, throwing Neji back with the explosion before he even had a chance to start his Hakkeshō Kaiten (Rotation/Heavenly Spin).

Dazed, Neji landed onto the ground on his back, his Byakugan deactivated, seeing only white, and only hearing a high pitched whine and muffled sounds due to his proximity to the explosion. A figure walked into his view. _'NARUTO!'_ he raged in his mind, his inability to move or attack him and the fact that he had seemingly taken no damage from their fight.

Naruto shook his head. He walked out of the tree line after his clone's Bunshin Daibakuha. He originally wanted to mess around with the other Genin, like his tenant. But then when Kakashi and Sasuke neared the stadium, he decided to wait till the actual Invasion to showcase his skills upon Kyubi's insistence. And Kakashi or Sasuke for that matter, attempting to find out about his skills would only make a scene. One he didn't need just yet. Looking at the Hyuga, he thought to himself of his apparent favorite word. _'Fate.'_ He scoffed, walking towards the other Genin. He saw the eyes that looked at him with hate despite the glazed look and shook his head.

"You know… the whole time, you were fighting a Kage Bunshin." The eyes widened in realization. "And it was funny. If you remember, I would have passed during your class, if they allowed me to continue like Rock Lee. It was also funny, you know, that he had even worse scores than I did, but was able to pass because they'd rather have him pass than me despite only failing because of the fact that I couldn't even make a single fucking Bunshin. A Genin… who couldn't use chakra, compared to me." His statement heard by all, including the people in the higher booths, Sarutobi looking down in shame.

He crouched down beside the other Genin, still talking out loud and looked upwards at the sky. "I know you'd rather hear some blather about fate, and how you were cursed… but fuck you. I got dealt a shittier hand than you. I didn't even get to meet my parents. Konoha hates me. I get spit on, and beaten sometimes. I get charged at least double the price for stuff I need or want, and even then it's usually close to expiration or broken somehow. But do you see me moping around like a whiny bitch. No. You don't."

Moving his eyes to the other Genin, he told him "I make my own fate, you asshole. I'm going to fly someday out of this cage… I'd expected more from the 'premier' clan of Konoha, and the one with the 'strongest blood' in years." He got up from beside the other Genin, aware of the stares and the snub he'd given the Hyuga and Konoha in general. Walking away from the other Genin, he called back, "You know, I would have liked to duke it out with you and force you to change. But it's not my style anymore. Besides… the 'Genius Top-Rookie' of my year's about to arrive. And I need some rest before the show hits the road."

Reaching the exit of the arena, he called out "Before I leave, Shiranui-san… please call the match though. I wouldn't want to be disqualified because I left the field even after beating my opponent." Causing Genma and several attendees to laugh. Nodding, he raised his hands to the crowd in order to call out the match.

A spike of chakra signaled the end of his statement, followed by a swirl of leaves, revealing Kakashi and Sasuke back to back. Kakashi looked up from his ever-present book, "Are we late?" receiving chuckles and shouts of "You're early!" from the crowd.

Sasuke, meanwhile, took a look at the downed Neji and frowned. '_Who did this?'_ as he heard the proctor say, "Third Match. Uzumaki Naruto is the Victor!" Quickly turning around, Sasuke caught a glance of Naruto's back as he walked out of the arena. _'Just how strong are you?'_

Kakashi frowned at Genma's announcement. He didn't expect Naruto to beat Neji. But then again… he didn't expect him to do anything he did achieve. Fighting off Zabuza, Haku, Orochimaru, then Kiba and now Neji… and either winning or stalling them. His student was full of surprises. Surprises he had no participation in creating. His head dropped lower after that new realization. He had tried to find him at the beginning of the month to offer to train him as well as Sasuke, but he'd forgotten how sneaky the boy was. After the secondary sealing, Naruto's stealth skills skyrocketed… while everything else but his planning skills plummeted. He shook his head, dispelling those thoughts. He'd have time to find out from either Naruto or the Sandaime later. Looking over to Genma, he saw his fellow Jonin hold out the sheet he supposed was the Match listings as the Paramedics picked up the Hyuga Branch Family Member. Noticing the fact that Sasuke's match was originally set as the fourth match, he chuckled at the Sandaime's cunning as he disappeared into another Shunshin as Genma called out the Next Match.

* * *

As soon as Naruto turned the corner, he looked left then right, up then down, reaching out with his senses for anyone present. Satisfied that no one was there, he moved his right hand into a one handed ram seal, then disappeared into a Shunshin. Red eyes looked out from behind their Genjutsu as he disappeared. Narrowing, they latched onto their chakra signature...

_'Naruto? What are you up to?' __  
_

* * *

**- Kage Booth's Building, Chunin Examinations Stadium, Konohagakure no Sato – **

**_October 8th, 163 AFK After Founding of Konoha. 2:28 P.M._**

The light illuminated two figures, only revealing them as they walked past the pillars that supported the Kage Booth. The tall red-cloaked figure following the orange-cloaked figure of Naruto, not meeting any resistance or any guards. The taller, red-cloaked man's eyes moved over to the shorter blonde teen beside him. "Arrogant, aren't they?" he asked, as he shifted the hood of his red cloak, revealing his dark red hair eerily similar to the Uzumaki clan's in color, but laying in spikes similar to the Yondaime Hokage's. The three whisker marks on each cheek showing each time they passed the shadows.

The teen in front of him answered, still moving up the stairs, "No... not really. I wouldn't want guards around me twenty-four seven. Besides, he's the freaking Hokage. And there's another Kage up there with him. Just not the Kazekage." Reaching the area right under the roof, where the barrier that the Sound Four would set up would be. Naruto sat down, his legs stretched out in front of him; elbows on his knees and his back and head against the wall. Turning to his left, he looked at the Kage Bunshin housing his closest friend, who at this point could call family and there wouldn't be anything false about the statement. Swallowing down the saliva built up in his mouth, he closed his eyes once more, his head dipping down against his chest. Hearing the sounds of the crowds as they got back to their seats after the fifteen minute break between his match and the Uchiha's. The Uchiha had to prepare for his match after all...

Digesting the answer, his companion nodded reaching back and tying his hair up into a ponytail. "You have a point. Too bad he doesn't know it's the Otokage... Orochimaru." Hearing a gasp, his eyes widened. His hands dropped down from his hair as he disappeared from view, appearing behind the person who'd apparently been following them and whispering in their ear from behind. "You know, it's impolite to spy on people... Kurenai-chan."

Kurenai's eyes widened at the voice, and leaped sideways, and ran behind one of the pillars present. Drawing a kunai from her pouch, she called out, "Who are you, and why are you here?" Her back to the wall, she wondered why her Genjutsu didn't hide her... she was certain he appeared right behind her, as if he knew exactly where she was. _'Was it my gasp or my scent?'_ she asked herself as she made sure her Genjutsu was still up. She looked out from the left side of the pillar and saw no one there. Moving back behind the pillar, her eyes moved in front of her and saw the red-haired, red-eyed man who was staring at her. "Wha-?" she blurted out, before he held up his hands in front of him.

"Wait... we'll explain. Just..." he began, before he was interrupted by Naruto.

"Just tell us how long you've been following us." Naruto said, as he rounded the pillar behind the red-haired man, a kunai held up to Anko's throat, and her hands behind her.

Struggling, Anko ground out, "Tell us how you know that's Orochimaru. And what are you doing here... you should've told someone!" causing the red-haired man to chuckle slightly.

"Good. At least she has the sense to not shout it unlike the rest of Konoha, eh, Naruto." he said, motioning for Naruto to let Anko go. Slowly letting her go, Naruto made to move back but was grabbed by her, and he quickly substituted himself with the nearest object as he didn't want to end up being cut up again like last time. The smoke dispersed, revealing that the object happened to be Kyuubi, who was held from behind. Chuckling once more, he rubbed backwards against her, "Anko-chan I've heard the rumors, but didn't know that you really were this... kinky." Even though she was surprised at Naruto's sealless substitution, she sent a glare at the red-haired man in front of her as she put a kunai up to his throat. At the move, he grinned, pushed himself backwards even more, backing up into her cleavage, "Really kinky. And hot."

"Who are you?" she asked, ignoring his advances as she moved her kunai along his throat just enough to draw blood from the man.

"Really hot." He declared. Meanwhile, Naruto was struck frozen as he watched Kyuubi. So unused to Kyuubi acting like this with anyone and ignoring the fact that Kyuubi really wasn't around anyone at all, his immobility allowed Kurenai to grab and hold him from behind. His eyes widened at her move and he heard Genma start Sasuke's match against Gaara before cursing under his breath. _'AARGH! Dammit, Kyuubi, I should've known after the way you've been talking...'_

"Well, fuck." He looked towards Kyuubi and tilted his head sideways as he pondered whether to answer, before Kyuubi answered for him.

"I'm Kyuubi." he said, agreeing with Naruto's statement. His own statement getting incredulous looks from the two females who'd subdued them.

"And I'm Madara Uchiha." Anko answered, causing Kyuubi to laugh at her answer even though he was cutting himself more with the kunai at his throat. Feeling that she wasn't going to get any answers from the red-haired man just yet, she moved her kunai a small distance away from his throat as she turned to Naruto. "Who is he? And why does he have whisker-marks like you. You're the only one whose supposed to have those whisker marks." her question making Kyuubi laugh a bit more, before he saw Kurenai feel Naruto's hair with the hand holding the kunai, puzzled at its fur-like quality as Naruto was enjoying the feeling of a female running her hands through his hair.

"Yeah, he's the only one. I'm glad you've done your homework. Kushina-chan and Mito-chan didn't have those whisker marks. Only he does, and that was because his mom thought it would be cute. Like how I changed his hair... do you like how it feels like fur? Kurenai-chan, it's exactly like mine." his answer making Anko center her attention towards the man she held in her arms and Kurenai to stop messing around with Naruto's hair, causing the teen to glare at his friend.

"Damn it, just stop. This is Kyuubi." he said annoyed, both at the interrogation and the waste of time.

"So you mean... this is The Kyubi?" Anko asked. A bit frightened at the probability that she was holding the legendary demon in her arms. At her gaze, she noticed his throat healing, causing her breath to hitch in her throat.

"Are you serious?" Kurenai started, before being interrupted by the man himself.

"No, I'm not Sirius." Kyuubi grinned, being unable to mess around for so long... and with females at that... "That's the star." his reply making all of the others present groan with distaste, with Naruto resorting to a sweat-drop as he was unable to face-palm at his friend's stupidity. "I'm not Kyubi. I'm Kyuubi..." he said, rolling his eyes, as he thought it was obvious. "I knew that Inari-sama wanted this to happen." he grumbled, scuffing his boot on the ground in annoyance.

Puzzled at his actions and wondering whether it was really true, Anko turned to Naruto again, who was shaking his head. "Kyuubi. Not Kyubi. His name is Kyuubi." he said, stressing the length of the u's, the oo- sound (Like Kee-yoo-bee, not Ki-yu-bie). The answer making some sense, both Kunoichi nodded, looking at each other before their eyes snapped back to Kyuubi.

"What? How're you out of the seal? Why aren't you destroying the village?" their questions eerily asked at the same time, their voices synchronizing with each other.

Meanwhile, Kyuubi was shaking his head, grumbling. "Oh, '**_it'll be funny!'_** you said **_'You, the Kyuubi taking the form of Kyubi i__s the ultimate prank!_**' stupid Inari-sama." He looked up at their questions. "You know... I'm not really a demon. I'm actually one of Inari-sama's messengers. Well, was. Before I and other followers of the Gods came down to the planet to fuse with the Biju to curb their actions. They were causing too much destruction." his answer causing them to ponder a bit, before Kurenai started to ask another question.

"But-" he cut her off again.

"I was unsealed from Kushina-chan on the day of Naruto's birth. Madara Uchiha, the bastard, came in and because of the seal's weakness during her birth... he came and controlled me, who was concentrating on keeping Kushina alive for her son. But his damned Sharingan..." All of a sudden, the sound of the Chidori and the sudden squelch and screech of pain reached them. "Oh shit! Orochimaru's making his move! So please... can we talk later? We have an invasion to curb. We're short on time here... we've wasted too much! Naruto summoned me to help him take care of Orochimaru. Please... let us go. We'll talk about this later, I Promise! And I don't back down from my promises." he begged. This wasn't good, his time-table was going to be crapped out, and besides, he didn't want to hurt two of the hottest Kunoichi that he'd seen in the village.

Naruto joined in, "Please. I know the village has fucked me over for practically my whole life..." his eyes lowered, "But it's still my village. I've got to help." he ground out, disliking the words that were spilling from his mouth. "I've hidden my skill for so long, and this time I'm able to cut loose, to help in the fight that Orochimaru and Ji-ji are in." his words reaching them, making them lower their guard a bit, and move away from both of them. "I'm sorry, but I think you should go and help out outside or in the stands..." he turned to look at them. "Kyuubi can't be a certain distance away from me, so I have to stay, and I don't think either of you are strong enough to fight off Orochimaru..."

At his last words, Kurenai nodded moving back to the area her students were in, rushing away just as the explosions signaled the invasion. Anko grudgingly agreed, remembering the damage she received during the second exam from the Snake Sannin, and made to follow her friend. Turning back, she told them, "I want to talk to you when we get back, boy. I don't know how you received that information, but I will know. Be grateful that Konoha needs me right now." Waiting before she received a nod from Naruto and an agreeing grunt from Kyuubi before she disappeared in a Shunshin.

Rubbing their necks, both guys grinned at each other before clapping each other on the back, relieved at escaping the two women. Naruto sighed before speaking, "How did we get caught, I sensed no-one? How did you not sense them?" He looked around and then turned back to Kyuubi before he noticed that there was another Kyuubi was standing next to a purple figure clothed in a white robe edged in black, with white spirit flames around it and a dagger in its mouth. _'The Shinigami!'_ His face paled at the revelation. "How... W-What? Why?" before the Kyubi beside him dispersed in a burst of smoke, signaling the disappearance of a Kage Bunshin.

The remaining Kyuubi shook his head, face downcast. "I'm sorry. I promised your parents that you'd be safe. I've done all I could to ensure that you will." he gestured to the figure, "Please, Tsukuyomi-sama, take off that figure. It's... unflattering." The figure next to him grumbled a bit, before it waved its arm it was covered in darkness. After a couple seconds, the darkness shrank back, revealing a rotund old man with flowing white hair and a full beard dressed in red robes.

The answer and the subsequent appearance struck Naruto dumb, before he stuttered, "S-s-sa-santa?" Shock filled Tsukuyomi's face as silence reigned for a few seconds, before Kyuubi broke out laughing, causing an incredulous look to overcome the shocked look on Tsukuyomi's face and embarrassment on Naruto's. "Sorry, it's just that you look like him. I mean, other than the fact that you're probably way cooler… than… both of them…" Naruto mumbled, attempting to draw the attention away from the fact that he'd called one of the Kami… Santa. Damn. He'd never live it down. His thoughts broke down, ignoring the ensuing chastisement from the divine being about the ex-divine being's reactions to his attire. Feeling a poke on his forehead, he looked up into the visage of Kyuubi, who was smiling slightly. "Why is Tsukuyomi-sama here? Is he the Shinigami? What's happening? Why are you doing this? Why didn't you tell me?" the questions flowing from his mouth at his distress as he held his head in his hands, backing away from what he thought was his friend.

Tsukuyomi moved beside Kyuubi, in front of Naruto. **_"Hey, Naruto, look at me. I'm not the Shinigami… just a Substitute." _**He told the teen, causing him to turn to the Kami. **_"I'm here, because… Kyuubi here asked for help from the Kami, the Gods if you will, to fulfill your parent's wishes. And to help you achieve your dream." _**The answer making the blonde to look back to the Kyuubi in shock.

"Wha-what do you mean? My parent's wishes, my dream?" he asked, puzzled at the really weird chain of events. First, he beats up both of his opponents, then summons Kyuubi into his Kage Bunshin. Then they arrive at their destination, only to be held up by two of the hottest Kunoichi in Konoha… then here comes Kyuubi with the Shinigami… well, the Temporary Shinigami…

Kyuubi answered, breaking Naruto away from his thoughts "Your parents wanted me to make sure you had a good life." He shook his head, smiling sadly. "And here, in this world, it would be practically impossible. A perfect example would be the situation we find ourselves in." He gestured around him, and at the outside, where everything was frozen. An awed look came over Naruto's face. "Right now, we're in stasis, because of the efforts of Tsukuyomi-sama, but… The Invasion, the Nuke-nin, the Hunter-nin that would chase after you and others who would wish for your bounty because of Konoha's reaction… It's not safe for you in this world." Kyuubi's answer prompting a response from the teen once again.

"What do you mean this world? Why can't we work it out here? Why didn't you tell me." He asked as Tsukuyomi left them as he wandered around the room, moving through the pillars, allowing them to have some time for their private conversation.

"Because. This isn't the only world, or the only dimension. In another world, there's a Kyuubi that hates you, one where you become Hokage, one where your parents died at your childbirth, one where… Neither of us exists." His answer causing Naruto to pause in surprise, "There's a world where you have siblings, you know." He smiled indulgently at his friend of fifteen years, as he grabbed hold of his shoulders and looked in his eyes, "Although your parents are dead in that world… like this one… they exist in the afterlife. In that world, you would be a lot safer. True, there may be struggles, but they shouldn't be in the same magnitude that they always escalate to in a world like this one. Your parents wanted me to keep you safe and happy. I know you can take care of yourself. But you would have such a hard time here. Chances are that you would die before finding happiness if you stay here. That is why I'm doing this. The fact that you'll be able to find happiness in the other one, a place you can fly, and a place you can be free. You always wanted that, it was your dream, right?" the eyes of his friend/son/brother shining with tears, making him tear up too. Pushing himself away from the blonde, he turned around, in order to wipe his eyes, "Dammit. I told myself I wouldn't cry." He told himself, before he felt Naruto give him a hug from behind.

"Thanks." Naruto said, thankful for such a good friend. "But will you be coming with me?" he asked, afraid of the answer, pulling himself away from his brother figure. The hug wasn't conforming to the 'guy-code' standards they'd set for themselves after all. Just a moment of weakness… Right.

"No." he shook his head, "I'll be taking your place here!" he declared, drawing a questioning look from Naruto. "This is the price I'm gladly paying for your safety… well, relative safety." He corrected himself, "You have to continue taking care of yourself after all." He grinned, "I have work to do, and I did promise Amaterasu-sama and the other Kami that I would clean this world up."

Naruto laughed at Kyuubi, "Hehehe, you're also doing this because you want to go out with Kurenai-sensei, don't you?"

"Che, it's just a bonus! Well… a really good bonus. Her friend's really hot too." Kyuubi replied, causing Naruto to continue laughing.

**_"Kyuubi, I am sorry, but this discussion has to end soon. He has to decide whether he is going or not."_** Tsukuyomi called out, looking at a massive golden pocket watch attached to his belt as he walked towards them.

Naruto stopped laughing and stared incredulously at Kyuubi. "I have a choice?" he asked.

"Umm, yeah, did I not mention it? If you didn't accept, I mean, the Kami would probably allow something else, bu-" he started rambling, before Naruto interrupted him.

"Hehe, this is why I always wanted you to collaborate with me. You know?" he shook his head. "But if you're going to be staying here, could you keep an eye out for Ayame-nee-chan, Teuchi-oji-san and Iruka-sensei?" he asked, receiving a nod from his old friend.

"Of course I will. Is there anything else you want to ask or something before you decide?"

"No… well, wait. I want to know… how did you do it? How did you have me not find out?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious as to how his old friend had pulled it off.

Kyuubi's mouth turned into an 'o' after Naruto asked his question. "Well, you see… I… I haven't been here for the past two weeks, here." He said, scratching his head. "I left a kind of mental Kage Bunshin behind so that you weren't suspicious. I'd actually spent years in the other world, preparing your body. You see-" he continued.

"Preparing my body?" Naruto interrupted, confused.

"Yeah, well… actually…" Kyuubi paused, "Just ask Amaterasu-sama or Inari-sama. They're the ones in charge of that whole thing." He declared, nodding to himself, hands crossed in front of his chest. He looked at Naruto. "I was kind of waiting with Amaterasu-sama and the other Kami… and was with you at the same time during the two weeks. Once I reappeared, I was able to regain the memories and receive more in 'real time' as they arrived, and well, I was going to come back immediately, but I had to look for some of my old stuff." He shrugged at the end of his explanation. "I think that's all of it. Do you still want to go, or do you want a wish or something."

"One more question… how are you going to take my place?"

"Oh, that…" Kyuubi fell silent, pondering the question. "I! Don't know… actually, I have an Idea, but… I can't pull it off until you leave." He said, receiving a glare from Naruto. "Ugh, fine." He rolled his eyes, "I'm going to be reforming that body of yours, by fusing it, and myself together, creating an amalgamation of pure awesome."

Naruto looked at Kyuubi with a skeptical look, and then at Tsukuyomi, who nodded in agreement and he sighed. "I…" he sighed again, "Yeah. I'll go." He said, creating a Kage Bunshin before telling it to dispel itself once time resumed, he wanted Danzo to himself, after all. Turning back to Tsukiyomi and Kyuubi once again, he nodded.

Tsukuyomi waved his left hand, summoning an object into his hand. **_"Here, this will take you to Amaterasu-chan."_** He gave the object to Naruto, who looked over it. It was… a gift-wrapped… present?

"So you're really Santa?"Naruto's shout of questioning joy echoing through the frozen (time-wise) halls of the Kage Booth's Building right before he was cut off."You're rea-!" he continued just before he was covered in a swirl of ethereal energy.

**_"I hate you, Kyuubi. Two more favors left for you."_** Tsukuyomi warned, irritated at his crappy luck and his even crappier gambling skills, his friend and his stupid favors.

"Hehehe. For now." Kyuubi grinned, "Just until the annual poker game!" he laughed, "Santa-yomi-sama!" Tsukuyomi grumbled, annoyed at his old friend. Kyuubi stopped laughing, patting the deity on the shoulder, "Thanks."

**_"What are friends for?" _**Tsukuyomi shrugged, as he continued staring at the spot that Naruto disappeared from, the swirling vortex of ethereal energy dissipating, leaving the seemingly unconscious body of said blonde. **_"Ready to move into the kid's body?" _**

"Yeah…" Kyuubi nodded, moving over towards the body. He looked upwards. "Amaterasu-sama, watch over him, please." He prayed, before he looked down prepared himself for what he was about to do.

Meanwhile, the Kage Bunshin that Naruto left moved beside Tsukuyomi and asked him, "So… you aren't really Santa are you? He called you Santa-yomi-sama…"

Shaking his head, Tsukuyomi answered, **_"No, I'm not. The real Santa sleeps practically the whole year, pretty much hibernating during the summer. I only look like this because I pissed Amaterasu-chan ages ago. The present, like it was implied earlier, I owe Kyuubi favors." _**Noticing Kyuubi cover himself in chakra, he told the clone, **_"Pay attention, this'll be awesome."_**

* * *

**- Unknown -**

**_Date: Unknown. Time: Unknown (Arrival)_**

Naruto came to, lying on a bed with a blanket over him. Opening his eyes, a blinding light caused him to close his eyes and cover it with his left arm. He groaned, "That wasn't the best idea…" The right arm pushing himself upwards into a sitting position. He knew he never had motion sickness before, so he was a bit surprised at the fact that he was knocked out by that swirling sphere that surrounded him. Clearing his throat, he called out, "Hello, is anyone there?" hearing footsteps coming from the ceiling, he relaxed a bit, there were multiple floors in this building. And if they were going to kill him, they would've done so already… and he did trust Kyuubi, though he was a bit peeved that he didn't tell him his plans. He just wanted a little warning. He allowed himself to fall backwards onto the bed. He really couldn't hold himself up at this point. Feeling his body, he realized that something was wrong… Hearing the door slide open, he turned his head towards it, despite the fact that he couldn't see… he heard a voice he hadn't felt the joy of hearing in more than six, seven years…

"Naruto-chan! You're awake!"

* * *

**- Hill on a grassy plain, near the Uzumaki-Namikaze home - Afterlife -**

**_Afternoon – Fourteen Months later (One Year and Two months after Arrival)_**

Naruto was lying down on a hill, at a grassy plain after a small jog he'd taken just to do something random. He stared at the early afternoon sky, reminiscing… It had been a little over a year since then. Fourteen months since he'd woken up and discovered that not only was he in 'heaven' with his mother, with his father occasionally coming around as he was currently working for the Temporary Shinigami, Tsukuyomi as payment for summoning him. It took up a lot of his time, running back and forth directing souls and sending them to the right places. But Naruto noticed almost immediately that he was younger. Not seven, as he was at the time he was sealed, or fifteen, almost sixteen, when he agreed to live a new life… but he was eleven. Eleven when he woke up… Twelve, now. Apparently, even though he was mature enough, his parents and Kyuubi had pleaded that he stay here until he 'matched ages' with his body when they were planning it out. He was happy though, because apparently the body he was going to be using was 'his' body as well, and was sixteen. It gave him five years to spend with his mom and dad in the afterlife. So it wasn't too bad, and Amaterasu-sama had tweaked his 'spiritual' body, to end up matching the body that Kyuubi had altered. Well, that and he was able to spend time with his parents.

However, he was afraid that he was going to take over the 'alternate universe's' Naruto's body. Once the situation was cleared up about how the AU Naruto, who wanted to be referred to as Maelstrom to differentiate between themselves, had died from an accident in relation to the machines that they were using, hitting his head and getting rained on by shards of glass and then the subsequent coma/death… and the technical issues surrounding it. He'd asked both Tsukuyomi-sama, and Amaterasu-sama if they would allow him to 'fuse' with his alternate's spirit. He wanted his alternate self to enjoy his siblings as well, after all. He also asked the Goddess, if they'd allow their parents to fuse as well… Meeting up with them again, and staying with them for just three weeks, he didn't know whether or not he'd want to leave now.

Amaterasu had gladly granted his wishes, appreciating that he still thought of other people despite the chance he was given… and that all of the parents, and that Maelstrom had agreed. His own parents were mad at the people who they sacrificed their lives for, and with both sets of people retaining their memories by fusing into one being… they had no problems at all, they were all the same people on the basest level anyway was their rationalization to the whole ideal. The only really close ties that the Konoha Namikaze clan had left were Rin, who wanted to stay with her beloved Obito, and Sakumo Hatake, who had been happily living his afterlife with his wife. The alternate Uzumaki-Namikaze clan was ecstatic, glad at the chance for their son to live the life he wasn't able to, and interact with his siblings. Both Minato's wanting to explore the minds and memories of their alternate selves, and the Kushina's just wanting to watch their children…

But despite his maturity, the Goddess had decided that they'd merge when he reached 'fourteen,' when really, to him, it didn't matter. They were 'dead,' anyways. It was too soon to think about that since it was still about two years until they were to merge after all. But to prevent rejection from both sides, the Deities wanted both Narutos to reach similar enough wavelengths with their souls so that the transition into one being would go without complications. Similar processes were happening to their parents. But seriously, it was weird looking at their moms talk to each other about children and their dads talk about each other's skills and specialties. The only way both he and Maelstrom were able to differentiate between them was the styles of dress they had. And even then, they were getting really similar.

He'd questioned Inari, the kami of Industry and foxes about how they aged, or stayed the same, or how everyone met, but the explanations the Kami had eagerly gone into had gone over his head completely despite his analytical and mental skills. The only things he remembered were the terms 'sense of self' and 'belief' that allowed them to keep their 'age' or change it a bit. Proof of it happened when they saw their parents running around in their kid years, playing tag. He'd high-tailed it out of there before he fell unconscious from the scene. From the cuteness or just the situation… he didn't know, but it was just too weird. He wanted to ask how babies were made in the afterlife considering the fact that he knew his parents wanted more… but the question just died in his mind, despite the context… It was a weird question after all and he dreaded the answer.

Getting up from his seat on the hill, he noticed that it was 'sunset,' he finally appreciated Shikamaru's hobby of staring at the sky for hours. It was so peaceful, and well, it made him happy. He'd never tell him that to his face though, he didn't like lazing about too much, but the afterlife was good for him. He used to do something similar before he came here, where he would just get to the highest place he could, and just feel the wind, and the rain, even in a thunderstorm, or in the rare times it snowed. Walking towards the two-story log building that his family lived in; similar to his mother's old home in Uzushiogakure… he chuckled at the memories of those times. He drove her and Rin mad with worry especially when he'd be out and there were storms.

He asked around about Kyuubi and how he'd been doing, but neither Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi were able to give him an answer. They'd told him Kyuubi would tell him when they met again, prompting him to ask when he'd meet him. Amaterasu just shook her head at him, telling him that she didn't know. She may be practically omnipotent, and essentially omniscient, but there were things that even she didn't know. She had important things to do, and if it was important enough and she didn't catch it, the other deities would tell her. She didn't have the time to go searching through the timelines after all… she may get some false information, or irrelevant ones, she explained. With Tsukuyomi explaining the same thing despite Naruto's protests that Kyuubi would've killed bunches of people, the ones who were chasing after him, like Konoha itself. Well, that and the fact that they did promise Kyuubi that he would be the one to say how the stuff went, after all. And the Kami always kept their promises after all… unless there were severely extenuating circumstances, but those were drastically few and far, far between.

Reaching the cottage door, deep in thought, he opened it and raised his eyes forward, seeing the thing, the one thing he'd been avoiding for the whole time he'd spent there when he noticed his parent's moods. "AUGHH SHIT! Mom! Dad! Not where people can see you!" he shouted as he closed his eyes and shut the door. He quickly turned around and marched off in the direction he just came from, shaking his head before yelling back at their home, not daring to turn around, "Dammit! Can't you put a sign up or something when you do that?" he sighed, thinking to himself, _'It might've gotten pretty loud, so they probably didn't hear me… gah! Bad Naruto, no more thinking of that!' _he mentally berated himself, beating himself over the head with his fists. _'Stop spacing out, dammit! It's the reason you walked into there without being careful.'_

* * *

**- Just Before Naruto opened the door, Living room -**

"Right hand to Green Two! Kushina-Chan!" Minato yelled out, after moving the spinner.

Kushina reached for the green spot, "UGH! Dammit, I can't reach it! Minato-Kun!" she replied,

"Oh Shit!" Minato shouted, as he fell over from her attempts to reach the pad.

"Oh, damn!" he groaned, putting his arms up to move himself off of Kushina just as they heard the door slam. "You hear something, Kushina?"

* * *

**- Hill on a grassy plain, near the Uzumaki-Namikaze home - Afterlife -**

**_Sunset – Sixteen Months Later (Two years, Eight months after Arrival)_**

Reaching the top of the small hill he'd been sitting at for most his stay in the Afterlife, Naruto looked up at the darkening sunset sky, reminiscing about his brother in all but blood. _'It's lonely here without you aniki… I thought it'd be awesome if we'd finally be separated, or if you were never shoved into my body… I guess you don't really know what you'd really miss until it's gone, huh?'_ he asked himself, remembering the times they'd shared, especially the planning their pranks when they were younger, and the events after the unsealing.

Receiving no answer from within his mindscape, he slowly set himself down, lying on the crest of the hill as he kept his eyes to the sky. _'Is this what it means to be free of you? To be free, period? Does it mean that one has to be alone? Because… because I… I don't want to be lonely again.'_ He told himself, fearing the one thing that had hit him the hardest during his time in the elemental countries. Loneliness… loneliness was the one thing that he'd felt the strongest, even through the seal, the darkness only being reinforced by the memories of his 'other.'

He was glad that he was staying here with his parents. Being here with them and the occasional visitors allowed him to get used to being around 'normal' people again… not that he'd call his family or the deities 'normal,' but being here with them took the edge off from his dark and depressed moods. His emotional state fluctuated like a bipolar person's, but the people didn't mind. Apparently, even though he and his 'other' had already been put back together again, the emotions both had felt towards certain things and events would conflict sometimes, causing weird reactions from him and reactions to his reactions... well… that was as of three months ago, he'd sorted it out… mostly.

Jealousy or envy, was the second strongest emotion he'd felt. Jealous and envious of his 'peers' for their family, even though the 'other' had known somehow that he had family, but didn't remember them. And, like his issues with being lonely … just being around his parents here helped him work through his own negative emotions. Time in the afterlife had brought things into a better perspective, the peace allowing him to look himself over, and cure his own disabilities regarding his emotions. Getting smacked over the head whenever he went 'emo' in sight of his parents, both sets of them, really helped there. Maelstrom himself had taken it upon himself to make sure that he wouldn't be too 'emo' by popping up unexpectedly whenever he was getting into his moods.

His greatest fear at this point was being lonely once again, even though he was reassured by his family and the 'alternates,' especially Maelstrom, that their siblings were awesome, and that if anything happened… they'd be together once again in the Afterlife once again. "But then… if I don't take this chance, I won't… I won't really know, huh?" he continued, working his fears out vocally.

Reaching up to the sky with his right hand, he held his fingers splayed out, the appearing stars looking like they were gravitating towards the digits. "If… If I'm going there, I'm making damn sure!" he shouted out, closing his hand, drawing in the air surrounding his fist, "I'm making damn sure I won't be lonely there." He continued, staring at the wind that was now visible around his hand and at the sparkles of light that appeared everywhere in the afterlife.

Laughing at himself, and his emotional state, Naruto shook his head. This place was really getting to him, with not a lot of people to talk with, and not much to do. The only reprieve he had was his training in his affinities with wind and water, not that he knew whether the elements would respond to similar stimuli in Maelstrom's world. Any physical training he'd be doing would be once he, combined with Maelstrom, would be done once they were back in their body. His own lightning affinity was going to be a moot point, as not only was no chakra in that world, but an energy 'simpler, yet more complex' as Inari had stated, always managing to avoid explaining it to him. The only tidbit he'd been given was 'It is a fact that the energy in that world is present both inside the body and out of it, and that one was able to draw it from the outside allowing them to use it at almost no cost to themselves.' The whole description managing to remind his family of Nature Chakra, making the Fox-god laugh and wear a Cheshire grin once they'd told him…

But he was getting distracted. In any case, the actual affinity their body had been wind with a small amount of water affinity, boosted by Kyuubi in his stay, making them stand at a somewhat equal point. When this news had reached the 'alternates,' they'd been interested, with Maelstrom immediately going off with a smug grin, Naruto hearing a whispered, "Sora can keep the wind…" No matter how hard he'd tried, Naruto wasn't able to find out anything about this Sora. He had his own theories which didn't really matter now, because in less than two months he'd find out, as both Naruto and Maelstrom would cease to exist as two different people. And soon, very soon, they'd make their way back to Maelstrom's home world.

He grinned, throwing the wind he'd held in his hand upward, showering the area with the small sparkles of light, "Che, whatever… Whatever comes will come. I'll just have to meet it head-on." He declared to the stars, as he stood up, before turning away and heading home.

* * *

Watching Naruto walk back to his parent's house, Maelstrom stood from his perch in one of the trees behind the hill. "I totally agree with you, Naruto." He said to his alternate's back, before looking up towards the stars that were peeking out from the cover of darkness. "I hope that you're okay, guys." He whispered to the wind, hoping that his closest friends and his siblings would be okay. He would've loved to visit them, or at least see how they were doing, but they weren't allowed to do that. They were in a 'time-dilation' area in the afterlife after all, and they needed to keep themselves inside a certain proximity to each other as well. The time here was faster than the other areas, but they didn't specify when exactly they'd arrive. "I'll just have to meet it head-on, eh?" He shook his head, heading in the same direction Naruto went.

* * *

**- Chapter 5: End -**

* * *

**- Prologue: 03 Start -**

**~It is here. You cannot stop it.~**

* * *

**- Observation deck above NU-01's Cryogenic Freezer, Trophaeum Tower -**

**_ July 4, 1998 : 4:30 P.M. – Seven months later._**

Inari Minami observed the frozen cylinder that stood in the middle of the room he was looking into from a one-way mirror. A blonde, teenage boy was laid onto a flat 'bed' inside of it. Looking at Naruto, Inari waited for the boy's siblings to arrive. They'd taken the news about their family fairly well, were proud of their heritage, and were still hopeful that their brother would wake. But the good news was overshadowed by dark tidings. There was unrest in the company lately, two factions fighting for leadership, as he learned from his old friends who were still working for the company. He shook his head; they had to get out of there, but they didn't want to leave their creations behind, be it the machines or the children.

The Namikaze-Uzumaki children had asked him why he didn't talk to them at the lab, when he appeared three months ago. Reminding them that he was in hiding after all, he asked them to describe the man who was taking his place at the lab… and their description matched his own down to the smallest detail, besides the style of clothing. But they knew, after the second time, where he'd been on a hidden line with them as the guy visited, that... it truly wasn't him.

Apparently, there was a doppelganger of him running around, conducting experiments. This wasn't good… there was someone out there ruining his good name and all the good work he'd done for the group and they were trying to find his nephew… And he couldn't allow that. From his old associates, who were still 'loyal' to him, they found out that the new 'Uncle Minami' was going to revamp the Gravity Children project and kill all of the children that were 'defective'… He shook his head, moving over to some of the monitors watching Naruto's status, "Not if I had anything to do about it."

They'd kept the information about the fake to themselves, learning recently that the man had found what he wanted in both Kilik and Rune, and spent his resources trying to find the elusive Mal, or NU-01, wanting to find the teen alive. He smirked; his practice of only referring to Naruto by the shortened version of the English translation of his name, Maelstrom, when they were around other people had paid off at least this much. Not only that, but from the files they've stolen, his sources and hidden cameras that the siblings had planted, they found out that the man was responsible for restarting the Brain Charger project, which was scrapped after the failed attempts on their original subjects, which they didn't know Naruto as a part of, as he'd done it under their noses. That was the situation as of five months ago.

They were planning on gathering a bit more evidence on the man despite the leak of information about the machines, the 'Air Trecks,' to the public four months ago, as well as a snippet of information about the 'regalia,' as the scientists have called the more powerful, if not most powerful, pieces of gear that they had. But after the disappearance of Gazelle two months ago and the release of her regalia last month... they couldn't wait any longer. It didn't help that he'd gotten a list of the children that were to be 'scrapped' today. He was enraged at the fact that Naruto's best friends Dontores and Blackburn were on the list, not to mention Spitfire… and Gazelle, Naruto's closest friend. Something was up, and it wasn't good.

The fake was staining not only his name, but the original purpose of this project… defiling the memories of his friends, of the parents of the children who'd given their genes supportively, the man was going to kill his nephews, nieces, their sons and daughters and he'd pay. Smashing a fist into the wall in his frustration, he heard the door open, revealing Kilik, Simca and Spitfire. Gritting his teeth and squaring his shoulders, he nodded towards them, gesturing towards the seats and motioning them to sit down.

The man wasn't going to get them… he'd die before that happened. And so he began, "Spitfire, Kilik, Simca… I've got terrible news about Gazelle… she's disappeared and it looks like she might be dead."

"What!" Spitfire shouted out, slamming his fists onto the table, "That's not right. She was released, wasn't she? So of course she's disappeared!" his outburst earning him a shake of the head form Inari.

"No. I know that, of course. She's gone. No trace. Someone's after you guys. The fact that she was on the list that the fake me has been carrying around isn't good enough." Inari stated, cutting off interruptions from the three teens, "Most, if not all of the people on the list… are connected to him." He declared, pointing to their brother. "Gazelle was his closest friend. Blackburn and Dontores, his best friends. Spitfire... need I say more?" He looked at the orange-haired teen with certainty, "You too. The only reason why I think that neither Kilik, nor you, Simca have been chosen, are because I fudged about whom your parents were on the reports, because of the 'three child per pair of parents rule!'" he stated as he started pacing back and forth. "Or he truly finds something in you, Kilik." Inari shook his head, raising his arms up in frustration, "This is getting ridiculous! That place isn't safe for you anymore! We need to do something about his."

Taking a deep breath, he looked at Simca, who was nodding to herself thoughtfully, "What do you think, Simca?"

Looking up, she looked around at the three of them, before she stared at her eldest brother's still form, laid out on a flat surface inside a tube in the Cryogenic freezer. "You're right." She declared, "We need to do something about this." Her answer drew a cold look from Inari, a questioning one from Spitfire and a thoughtful look from Kilik. Continuing, she asked her twin, "What do you think, Kilik? The breakout we've been planning?"

"Breakout?" Inari asked, out of the loop.

"Breakout." Spitfire stated, "We were planning on leaving the place real soon and Gazelle was actually the first one to be able to. But it seems that we can't do this one by one." He said, pounding his right hand into his left.

"Correct, plus 10 points for summarizing the obvious, Spitfire." Kilik declared, causing Spitfire to groan at his younger brother's mannerisms. "We will break out of the cage that we've spent our whole lives in. And we will make sure that we will all make it. His declaration causing Simca to smile and nod, and Inari to look upon them with a calculating expression. "What do you say, Dr. Minami? Will you help us?"

Staring at the three for a long moment, he slowly started to nod, "Yeah. I will." He said, getting up and moving over to the window separating them from the eldest of the siblings. Placing his hand onto the glass as he stared at the frozen form of Naruto, he asked, "What do I need to do?"

* * *

**- Observation deck above NU-01's Cryogenic Freezer, Trophaeum Tower -**

**_November 8, 2000 : 4:30 P.M. – Two Years, Four months later._**

Kilik walked into the chamber containing his brother, leading most of the current roster of 'The Sleeping Forset.' His brother would be nineteen by now... had the whole situation not happened. His physical age, however… he'd be just over the age of sixteen. Flipping open a book he was carrying in a satchel, he looked at the rest of the group, who, other than Simca and Spitfire… No one knew about it. Gesturing with his right hand, he called out to his fellow gravity children, "Anyone want to take a guess where we are?" motioning with his eyes for Simca and Spitfire to not answer.

"Hmm, a lab?" Dontores grumbled, shifting his 'arm cannons' uneasily. He didn't want to end up in another lab after all.

"Plus five points, Dontores, Any other takers?" Kilik stated calmly.

"Just tell us why we're here!" Nike ground out, angry at the fact that Kilik had them gather just as he was about to leave.

"Minus five points, Nike. Keep your cool." Kilik continued, noting the decrease in Nike's points for the week. He was actually pretty good this week, he was merely in the negative two-hundreds so far.

Looking out the window, Blackburn took notice of the form in the cylinder. "Mal?" he asked, standing up. Moving over to the window, he noticed the frozen form of his and Dontores' best friend. The three of them, plus Spitfire and Gazelle were practically inseparable. If he was here… then, he looked towards Kilik.

"Plus fifty points, Blackburn. But no… Gazelle. Gazelle isn't here." Kilik said, eyes downcast.

"Naruto." Sora spit out. "You brought us back down here, in this building… for HIM!" He'd hated Naruto and the fact that he, the great Sora Takeuchi, was only a 'replacement' king. The fact that the only reason that he'd gotten the regalia and the title was because Naruto was in a coma. Before he could rage even more, however, Blackburn interrupted his thoughts.

"Why? What's wrong with him? This is a cryogenic freezer, isn't it?" He asked. "But the last we heard, he was awake and on the run and that was why Dr. Minami was looking for him."

Simca answered this time, with Kilik preoccupied with his staring match against Sora, "No. That wasn't Dr. Minami." Her statement catching incredulous looks from the people in the observation deck, "Nor was he on the run… well, kind of."

Spitfire continued her explanation, "The Dr. Minami that you knew… two, three years ago. That wasn't him. There was a doppelganger, and Simca, Kilik and I were in contact with the real one. The Fake was looking for Naruto, and he was the one who put up the list." He explained, reminding them of the situation regarding their breakout almost two years ago, the anniversary of that date happening to be his eldest brother's birthday. "That's why. That's why we left. And if any of you remember, we were planning on leaving long before that anyway. It was only the disappearance of Gazelle…" he paused in remembrance, not noticing the slight twitch in Nike's facial muscles at her name, "that made the three of us push to move up our plans."

"So, the reason why we changed our plans with our breakout, to have the 'exodus' pushed two more years ahead…" Blackburn speculated, "Is that things were getting dicey for Mal?"

"Mmhmm," Spitfire nodded, "and now, we've gathered you together, here. Because, well, we need to move him out and you guys are the only ones we trust right now. And so far, we're the best ones for the job."

Kilik nodded in assent, "The Trophaeum Tower is closing… and if we leave him in here, we may never be able to get him out. Ine-san can't keep the Tower from closing. We haven't been able to hack into the databases to control the tower. And well I, for one, can't leave my brother here."

"Fuck him." Sora said, turning away. "I don't like him. He can rot in here for all I care. Come on, Guys."

"Nike… Sora? Falko?" Simca asked, reaching out to them as they left.

"I thought that they would help. I didn't think his jealousy over the fact that he was only a 'replacement' for my brother would overcome any rational thought he had." Kilik said, sad at his friend's reluctance to help. "Well, we should be able to move him with us, but we'll have to thaw him out. We can't carry him with our number." He said, turning back to the remaining people in the room. "Start the thawing sequence." He said, turning to Blackburn.

"Aye Aye, Captain." Blackburn replied, turning to the main console.

"Where are we moving him?" Dontores asked, turning to their de-facto leader.

"We have no choice but to transfer him to the hospital run by the Tuners. At least until they've gotten another Cryogenic Chamber set up. The technology isn't readily available after all. Simca, how long do you think it would take you and Ine-san to finish it?"

"At least two weeks." She replied, standing next to her twin. Waiting for the room to 'defrost,' she turned to her brothers, "It'll be nice to see how he's been doing since then, huh?"

Spitfire nodded from his place, standing next to the wall, "Yeah. Of course… he's been out of it all these years… it would be nice though, if he woke up soon, right?"

Kilik had to agree, "Yeah. Not only do we need him, but it would be great to be able to visit mom and dad all with all of us there."

Dontores spoke up from his spot by the one-way mirror, "What happened to the 'real' Dr. Minami if the one in the labs two years ago was a fake?"

"He's dead."

"Dead?" he asked, "But I thought you were in contact with him?"

"We were… but last year, he disappeared right after he gave him and the earliest of the Second Generation children to the Noyamano family to take care of. We haven't been able to get back in contact with him since then."

"But isn't the family her-?" Dontores asked, recognizing the name.

Simca concluded it for him, "Yeah, Rika-chan's family is taking care of the Second Generation. She's actually Doctor's niece, isn't that cool?"

"Che, not really… but why didn't you guys mention anything about Mal or her being related to Minami before she joined our team last year?" Blackburn asked from his spot at the console. "Actually, why didn't you mention him to us as soon as we broke out, we could have broken him out then."

Spitfire answered, "We were looking for ways to 'cure' him… we haven't been lucky enough. We wanted him to be able to show himself once he was better, but the fact is… we couldn't wake him." He said, saddened at the words coming out of his mouth, "Well, as for Rika… well, it didn't really matter that she was related to the Doctor. We didn't even mention that we knew her real uncle." He shrugged, taking a look at the screen showing the countdown to when his big brother would be unfrozen for the first time in years. "And back then… all of us were kind of drunk at the slightest touch of freedom at our fingertips. None of us were really thinking straight."

_'C'mon, Aniki… we need you, can't you see that? Things are changing way too fast here.'_ Simca thought to herself, unsure of the situation they were in. _'Sora has been pressuring us to take the Sky Regalia… but what do we do?' _she took a glance at her twin, _'I don't want to go against Kilik, but I think that bringing Sora here… wasn't the best of Ideas. They're already at odds over Rika. I think that this may be that last straw… the one that would break The Sleeping Forest. We might not survive this. So please, wake up. We need our old 'king' back.' _She moved towards the one-way mirror that separated her from her big brother, Spitfire coming over and patting her on her shoulder in a show of support. Hoping that her thoughts would reach her brother, she pleaded once again, her eyes watering, remembering the few years she remembered with her caring older brother.

_'I want my Aniki… Naruto-niichan.'_

* * *

**- Prologue: 03 End -**

* * *

**- Post-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

This chapter was a pain, once again, mainly because of my conflicting emotions about the whole thing. I wanted to continue and have an epic battle with Sarutobi and Orochimaru... and even one with Neji, actually. But then in the middle of it, I asked myself... why the hell am I dragging my feet?

Well, actually... the answer was kinda simple. I'm still re-researching(?) the Air Gear Universe due to the fact that I don't remember everything about it, and I know a hell of a lot more about the Naruto Series, as they have way more episodes/chapters and information. So I decided, that if I'm going to do something about Konoha... I'll just post another Fanfic, branching off from this one, that's completely set in the Naruto Universe about Kyuubi's adventures. So yeah. there you go. :P

Going back to the whole fight scenes... the thing is, I'm not sure if the fight scene I have Neji and Naruto have is okay. Like I 'said' earlier, I wanted to have a complete beat-down, where he completely pwns the hell out of Neji. But again, in the middle, I had a change of heart. I myself, wanted to just fast-forward to the whole 'jump between worlds.' So... there. To be honest, Kage Bunshin is OP, and with the Chakra reserves of Naruto and stuff like that... if he could learn the Daibakuha. Then no one would be safe. He could eat ramen or have sex while he's beating down opponents with exploding clones. Of course, it'd be weird to have sex while your clones are fighting and their memories pop back but I digress.

I was also originally going to allow Naruto to reach the Air Gear Universe with all of his Jutsu Intact, but the way I've changed it, as it kinda showed in the last chapter... He'll have to work at recreating the techniques he knows, if he wants them. So yes, Kage Bunshin and other Elemental attacks that I've never shown him using might come back . ... But he won't be spamming the Kage Bunshin like he was before. As for regular Bunshin... the riders of the Flame road have something similar.

As for the whole Kurenai & Anko scene... well, I couldn't resist, nor could I desist and delete once it was done... I couldn't think of any other way for something like that to happen. *Shrugs*

But yes, I'm having Naruto as the 'original' Wind King. I'm having him change his road though, once he comes back. The comment made by 'Mal' pointing to it, if people didn't pay attention. So yeah. (At this point, I'm dreading the flames or whatever that I'll recieve for making him the 'original' Wind King, but that's just the way it goes).

And here is a list of the characters that are there, so far... to get a sort of age/time-frame for the story:

**Known First Generation Gravity Children  
(ages may be changed at a later date… this is merely something to base ages off of.)**

1980 – Dontores

1981 – Naruto 'conceived' Jan – Birth: October 10

1981 – Falko

1981 – Rune

1982 – Blackburn

1983 – Gazelle

1984 – Spitfire

1985 – Kilik

1985 – Simca

1985 – Sora

1985 – Nike

1986 – Om

1986 – Nina

1988 – Caesar

**Second Generation**

1993 - Mikan

1995 – Ringo

~1998 – Ume

**Other**

1985 – Rika

1995 – Itsuki, "Ikki"

~1985 – Other 1'st Gen

~1995 – Other 2'nd Gen

So yeah, until I post again,

Margulide


	6. Approaching the Crest of the Wave

**Disclaimer: And now, once again, I state, "I do not own the Naruto franchise nor the Air Gear Franchise… Which are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Oh! Great (_Ōgure Ito)_, respectively..."**

'**_Thoughts.' _/ **_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" / **"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

* * *

**- Pre-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

Any inconsistencies I have written in my story... please send message/review and I shall elaborate/gestu-speculate and edit the story, or answer it in a later chapter, if it isn't too serious. If it is though, I shall go and fix it up, or clear up any misunderstandings

Alright, it's here, as promised. I have slaved away, till four in the morning . to post this chapter. YAY! *Snore*

This chapter is kind of a prelude to the whole situation in Canon, where the Members of Sleeping Forest fight each other, with Kilik turning on Sora. Which was a dick move, btw. But yeah, unless it's an omake or a scene from a memory, this story shall now be set in the Air Gear Universe completely. :)

And now, to answer some of the questions asked, or statements that I can adress.

**shushinking** - as you can see in this chapter, Naruto has indeed woken up. He will be fighting in the Next chapter, if I can get it in there... It's planned to be there, but my muse loves to roam, and sometimes just rushes in with a 100 yard tackle from 5 feet away... yeah. So yes, he may be fighting next chapter. And with the events following the days/weeks that Naruto de-comatizes, I'm certain that there will be at the very least, some fighting.

**chm01** - yes, I do allude to the pairing in this chapter. If anyone else has a problem with the pairing itself... please, express your reasons for disagreeing with me. Or better yet, write your own story :P. It's quite fun, and you can do whatever you want in it. *winks* ANYTHING. As for his road, for now, I'm just stating that he'll be working on getting back to speed on using what he does know from his memories as his time as Maelstrom. So, for the foreseeable future, he will be riding the wing road. (I'd rather call it the Wind road, but that's just me, I think.)

**god of stuff** - thanks for the suggestions on minor elemental manipulation, it really does depend on what I come up with, but I think I'll probably go that route (at least without help from his ATs if so). As for surface/water walking, I was already planning on doing so. You'll see a bit of that in this chapter. And great title suggestion for Kyuubi's time in the Elemental Countries btw. "the totally awesome adventures of Kyuubi-sama, now with epic fur like hair" has a nice ring to it. Although, I think I'll have to cut it down, and just have it as a tag-line in the in-story story titles, if that makes any sense.

**Matthew Cheung** thanks for the review,

_**(Aren't I evil, I'm not posting the actual reviews/comments, but I'm making you have to go look at them or guess at what they contain XD)**_

As for everyone else, enjoy the chapter... at least I hope you do. Please leave reviews though, it's kinda hard to add stuff, or address issues that people want addressed if people don't say anything.

Any reviews that I receive merely boost my own stupendous Ego. Hehehe. Jus' kiddin.' well, kind of. They do help me feel good and help me continue my writing *wink* And help improve it if there are any problems that people find.

* * *

ACL: 14,069 (Word Length- from FF dot Net)

Posted: November 21, 2010.

Updated: December 14, 2010. Fixed aligning problems.

* * *

**Maelstrom Road**

**Ch 6…**

**~Approaching the Crest of the Wave~**

* * *

**- Chapter 6: Start -**

* * *

**- Uzumaki-Namikaze Cabin, Afterlife -**

**_Dawn - three weeks after the 'merge'_**

Twisting and turning in bed, a blonde teen lay restless. Words echoing in his mind.

'**_C'mon, Aniki… we need you, can't you see that? Things are changing way too fast here.'_**

'**_Sora has been pressuring us to take the Sky Regalia… but what do we do?'_**

'**_I don't want to go against Kilik, but I think that bringing Sora here… wasn't the best of Ideas.'_**

'**_They're already at odds over Rika. I think that this may be that last straw… the one that would break The Sleeping Forest.'_**

'**_We might not survive this. So please, wake up. We need our old 'king' back.' _**

'**_I want my Aniki… Naruto-niichan.'_**

Simca. His little sister. And, according to his memories of when Maelstrom and his parents had looked over his siblings… he got up from his bed, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. The words came to him, calling out for his help ever since they'd merged. That was three weeks ago. He shifted uneasily, looking at the special calendar given to them, showing it was a week in Simca's time.

Stretching, he moved towards his closet. "How we even produce clothes in the afterlife… I don't know." He mentioned to himself as he put on a blue jacket over a white shirt and jeans. Moving downstairs, he looked at the living room looking for his parents. Then he remembered. Their parents, his parents… had already left. Their 'merge' happened at the same time, but they finished quicker. Their 'mental states' were at the same wavelength, allowing them to get up so soon. Enough to allow them to say goodbye to him before they left two weeks ago. Saying that it wasn't goodbye after all, that they loved him and that they didn't want to see him for a long time. He frowned at the joke. It still hurt, even though he knew it was in jest… but then again, he didn't want to see them for a while yet either. _'I don't plan on coming back alone, after all.'_

Moving towards the basement door, he remembered the words Amaterasu had told him right before they merged, _"Remember, Naruto, that when you're good and ready… all you have to do is open this door and jump inside."_

He smiled, looking around one last time as he opened the door, remembering both sets of the years he'd spent here. Looking back to the door, he stared at the figure laid down on a hospital bed. He shivered; "It always has to be a hospital, huh? Wha-?" before he was forcefully shoved into the doorway, revealing the form of his nemesis, shadowed by the doorway right before the door slammed shut behind him.

"DAMN YOU! SANTA-SAMA!"

* * *

Tsukuyomi grinned, "Payback's a bitch! That's for keeping on calling me Santa, little dipshit!" Before he wilted under a glare Amaterasu shot at him.

"Your punishment shall last for another hundred years, I think." Amaterasu stated, after she watched Naruto's form dissolve into wisps of light a split second before the door closed.

"Bu-But!" he stuttered, dismayed at his punishment for something so simple.

She cut him off, "No. You should have thought about that before you did it." Before she turned towards Inari, "Make sure that he's alright." right before she disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a crying Tsukuyomi at his lengthened sentence who disappeared into the shadows while the remaining deity to laugh at his friend's plight.

Inari chuckled, opening the door, and watched the wisps of light sink into the mind and heart of the body on the bed. "He seems to forget that Naruto had caught Amaterasu's eye. He'll be watched, make sure of that." He mentioned to the couple that were hidden in the doorway.

"Don't worry, nothing bad happened. The blow was merely a discomfort for your son. It doesn't matter how one goes through the portal, just as long as you're not severely injured." He grinned at the couple, "Minato, Kushina… as far as I'm concerned, 'Santa-sama' got the short end of the stick."

Moving closer to him, they watched as the rest of the wisps travelled inside the body. Breathing sighs of relief, they told Inari, "Thanks."

Waving his hand in dismissal, he closed the door with the other, "Meh, no problem. It's the least I could do for you. After all you've done, Kushinada-chan, Susanoo-kun."

Nodding, they took each other's hands and disappeared in a flash of yellow lightning. Inari stared at the point of their disappearance, asking himself, "I wonder how long it will be before both of you regain all the shards of your souls and return once more to the court?" before disappearing himself, in a burst of fire.

* * *

**- Hospital Room, Clock-tower -**

**_November 16, 2000 : 8:07 A.M. – One week after transfer._**

Beeping resounded through the small room, waking the body of a person who had been sleeping for over eleven years. Lapis Lazuli eyes, opening with their own power, seeing once more. The beeping continued, the rate increasing, irritating the person on the bed. Lifting his hands up, he tucked his long hair, moving it way from his face, behind his ear. "So… I'm back." The person stated, moving himself into an upright sitting position. "So… stiff." He commented to himself with a raspy voice, due to disuse. The beeping intensified as his heart… his heart pushed blood at an even faster rate, filling his body with the lifeblood.

'_A heart… It's been a while since I've had an actual living, beating heart.'_ And it was true… in the 'afterlife,' because although a person needed to breathe, eat and do other things there… they were merely spiritual bodies. They had blood, but no beating heart, because the human mind decreed that to be alive, even in the afterlife… one needed to have blood, even though they had no true heart. He shook his head, dislodging the hair he tucked behind his ears, right as the door opened.

* * *

Makigami Ine had been watching the body of one Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, 'Maelstrom' or 'Mal' as he was referred to by his close friends, for almost five years. She'd been watching him ever since Spitfire and Dr. Minami had asked her to. She knew it was practically impossible for one to wake from a comatose state after being in one for so long. And the Cryogenic Freezer complicated things even more, as she didn't know if it would push back, or delay any recovery that might happen. But here he was, sitting down on the hospital bed, the sun-kissed blonde hair waving from the slight breeze coming from the window, looking perfectly fine. So she uttered the first words that came to mind

* * *

"Oh, my… you're awake?" a voice called out in amazement. He looked at the doorway, revealing a blonde woman dressed in a white nurse's uniform, with her own blonde hair in a conch shaped hairstyle.

"Who…" he began, wondering who she was, his raspy voice echoing throughout the small room.

"Here…" she rushed in, handing him a glass of water, "Drink."

Taking the glass, he drank the water, wondering if he knew her. Her face was familiar, so he was sure he seen her or someone related to her before. He was sure of one thing though, she was very beautiful. "Who are you? Where am I?" he asked her, his throat hurting less, the thirst quenched.

"Oh, I'm Ine, Makigami Ine… I'm your nurse." She told him, "I've been looking out for you since Dr. Minami and Spitfire asked me too, almost five years ago."

The names caught his ear, "Dr. Inari… do you know my siblings? Kilik, Simca… Spitfire? Where are they?" he asked, wondering where they were. He'd better not mention Mikan just yet… she was 'born' after his coma began after all.

"Dr. Minami," she started, eyes looking at the monitors, "He's disappeared. He disappeared more than a year ago. But, Spitfire, and your twin siblings, Kilik and Simca are around here. I can get them for you. Just… let me get them and I'll right back." She said, grabbing the printouts from the monitors, ignoring his protests at leaving him as she rushed out of the door, heading to her office.

"Where a-… damn… I couldn't even get a word in edge-wise." Naruto told himself, falling back into bed. He laughed softly to himself, "At least I'm back. And I'm making damn sure I stay." He whispered to himself, waiting for his family to arrive. Looking down at himself, he relaxed a bit. At least he had a pair of boxer-briefs and a pair of white shorts that went along with his light blue hospital… gown.

* * *

The door opened, revealing three people who looked to be in their mid to late teens. A girl with dark pink hair that reached to the backs of her knees, who wore a white school-girl outfit outlined with orange and a set of Air Treck boots that went up to her knees. A platinum blonde, who wore a white suit bordered with an aqua green color, carried a satchel of the same color and wore AT's that had the same color scheme. The final person looked to be older than the other two, with Red-Orange hair held in place with a jersey headband, wearing a scarf, a high-collared snowboarding jacket with a flame motif and AT's with the same design.

Before Naruto could examine them closer, he was interrupted as a cry of "Naruto-niichan!" was his only warning when the pink blur smashed into him, sobbing into his chest.

_'Ow! Faster and stronger than most Chunin.'_ He thought to himself at the speed and power she had used to tackle him.

"Si-Simca-chan?" He stuttered, amazed at her changes. Sure, he'd seen all of his siblings before, when he and his parents would peek them to see how they were doing. But the last real time he'd seen his siblings was… when he was eight years old, and she'd been almost four. He immediately hugged her closer, relishing the warmth of another human body, as he looked at his brothers who were standing by the door.

"Spitfire… Kilik…" he called out, shocked at the changes they went through from his closer inspection despite it being common sense that they would have changed over time. None of them wore the white long-sleeved shirts and white pants that they wore when they were in the labs. Spitfire's red-orange hair flared out behind him, the headband preventing any to fall onto his face. Kilik, however, hadn't changed much. His platinum-blonde hair was still short, but the strands of long hair at each side, three times as long as they were when he last saw them in person, made Naruto snort. "What the hell have you done to your hair!" he laughed, pointing at them drawing a giggle from Simca and sweat-drops from his brothers at his first statement to them after his coma.

"Che, you're back and the first thing you do is criticize us! Kilik had come to do the same, you know? He does this add/minus point thing too! Hahaha." Spitfire laughed, earning him a smack to the back of the head with a book from the satchel that Kilik was carrying. "Ow! The hell?" he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head, causing Naruto to chuckle…

"You've all grown so much." He whispered, tearing up, "How have you all been?" he asked, turning back to his sister, who got up, wiping her eyes as one of her hands brushed by his hair.

"Well, we are…" she began, before she started playing with his hair, which had a distinct feeling, "it's like fur." She whispered, amazed.

Seeing this, Spitfire rolled his eyes, '_Why does everyone like his hair?'_ he thought to himself, irritated at his sister's actions which mirrored that of his girlfriend, not to mention any female, when they encountered his hair.

"We're in the middle of a war, Nii-san." Spitfire interrupted, drawing Naruto's attention from their Sister. "A lot has changed, you know? After you fell into a coma… Dr. Minami gave the company control over the operation while he tried to find a cure for you. Soon after, they pulled a lot of scientists out, and had them working on these," he gestured to the pseudo-roller-skates on his feet. Naruto nodded in acknowledgement, gesturing for him to continue, "They improved them and over-hauled the systems and stuff. But that's not where they stopped, you see… around that time, Dr. Minami himself had a child, and very soon after, everything went to hell."

Kilik continued for his brother, "He disappeared from the company right before he found out about some scientist who took the remainder of your parent's genes and 'created' another kid."

"Another…" Naruto asked, knowing what happened but unable reveal anything, as he batted away at Simca's hands, which were trying to get to his hair.

"Yes, her name's Mikan." Kilik held a picture up from the book he was holding, revealing a little pink-haired girl. Naruto took a hold of the picture and ignored Simca as Kilik continued. "It was after that whole situation… when he resigned from the company. He killed the man responsible, and he moved into one of the secret rooms he'd built inside the Trophaeum Tower, bringing you and his family with him. We," Kilik gestured towards himself and his siblings, "are the only ones who kept contact with him. Around that time, there was a leak of information. Our 'gear,' which they labeled "Air Treck" was released to the public. They work, not at the same scale as our Regalia. But now… people from all over use them."

As Simca was still preoccupied with playing with Naruto's hair, Spitfire continued, annoyed, "There was this doppelganger of Uncle Inari. And he was taking over the company. In short, he was starting a bunch of projects and stuff, and he was 'discarding' others."

"You don't mean…" Naruto began. He hadn't heard anything like this. There wasn't anything like this in his memories… the ones associated with the half that was Maelstrom.

"Yeah, he was planning on killing us off. Well, the ones that were 'defective,' but then Gazelle disappeared." Simca stated, sitting down beside him.

"Wait! Gazelle's gone? What do you mean she disappeared?" Naruto shouted, unaware of this development. She was one of his best friends after all… "What about Black? Don?"

Kilik shook his head, flipping through the book he held, "Blackburn and Dontores are fine. It's Gazelle who we don't know anything about. She left, using the secret passageway you discovered. The one we used to leave the tower when the scientists were gone. We thought she would come back like we all did… but she didn't. Then a few months later, her Regalia appeared, without her. And that was two years ago."

The statement shook Naruto, "She's gone, for… two years?" he asked himself, unsure of what to feel. Simca just hugged him, offering him what comfort she could. "What else?" he whispered, eyes downcast.

"Dr. Minami and his wife disappeared last year, after handing his son and a few of the Second Generation children over to the Noyamano Family. We're not sure if it's just coincidence, but the current 'Thorn Queen,' Rika Noyamano, is from that family. If you didn't deduce it, she's his niece. His sister is her mother, at least it's indicated from from that family tree he'd shown us."

Simca spoke up beside him. "We left the lab after the leak of information because of Uncle's insistence. Gazelle's disappearance made him afraid of what would happen to us." She shrugged, "So, we broke out of the lab and made our way out. That was two years ago, too. Then, with the public making teams and stuff, and holding these tournaments and competitions using the Air Trecks, or AT's, we decided to protect the Tower and the Sky Regalia because of the revealing of the gears. Sora created The Sleeping Forest in order to protect the Sky Regalia from other people. But then the Trophaeum Tower suddenly started closing down. In approximately one month, the Tower will be sealed. No one outside of our group knows about it."

Kilik finished, "There has been a lull in the actions of the Stormriders, as the AT riders call themselves, which indicates that they're gathering their strength in a massive strike, sometime soon. We only hope that the Tower will be sealed by then."

Naruto sighed, _'Conflict always appears when I'm there, huh?'_ he asked himself inwardly,_ 'But it doesn't matter. I'll protect them… Count on it.'_ He thought to himself and his parents. He looked up at Kilik. "What year is it?" he asked, wondering how old he was, in an attempt to draw the conversation away from the fighting.

"It's November 16, 2000. Nii-san."

Naruto's eyes widened, remembering the date when he had died. "What? How… eleven?"

"By all rights, you should be nineteen, Naruto-nii-san. But…" Spitfire continued, not noticing the piercing look that Simca shot him.

"But?" Naruto whispered, wondering what other curve-ball was going to hit him in the crotch this time. He'd just received a bunch of them after all. True, he was happy he had a young sister he could see grow up, and he was glad most of his friends were still there… but most of the information was quite depressing. He didn't know if he could receive any more really stressful information.

Spitfire answered his brother, raising his eyebrow at the neck-cutting motion that Kilik had been giving him. "Dr. Minami had set you up in this Cryogenic Freezer-thing. You've been in there for three years. Your actual age outside of it, is sixteen."

"Oh." He knew that years had passed by when he was in the afterlife, but… eleven years, was still a shock. Even though he had visited them, hearing about the time he'd spent in a 'coma' and physically receiving the words, in addition to the weird way he'd 'retained' his age of sixteen...

He'd done the only thing he could do. He fainted, falling over, just missing hitting the floor with his head by the timely intervention of his sister.

The twins just stared at their dark-orange haired brother who had caused their eldest brother to fall unconscious once again.

"What? What'd I do?" he shrugged, before Simca poked him in the chest.

"If he falls back into a coma, I'm going to tell Ine it was you that did it."

"Tell me he did what?" Ine asked, as she walked into the room, carrying a folder with Naruto's name on it. Looking at the unconscious Naruto, and the now sweating Spitfire, she leveled a glare at her boyfriend, "What did you do?"

Meanwhile, Kilik and Simca moved out of the room, ignoring Spitfire's painful cries for mercy.

Turning to Kilik, she asked, "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"Which one?"

"The older one."

"Oh, I'm certain he'll get better. He just needs more rest."

"More rest? He's been in a coma for years, Kilik!"

"I know that, but now that he's awake, his heightened regeneration, which I shall remind you, Simca… is higher than ours. It shouldn't permit him to fall into another coma if my calculations are correct. He'll be up in a few years of rest."

"Years!" she yelled, her voice echoing in the hallway, countering the whimpers of Spitfire.

"I mean hours. Sorry, I was looking at the wrong thing." Kilik retorted, flipping to another page of his book, before putting a bookmark and shutting it. He turned to his sister, "Simca… when it goes down." He breathed out a deep sigh, not really wanting to know the answer. "Keep yourself safe, will you? I didn't want to bring it up in there with nii-san having just woken up, but I know the disagreement between me and Sora is forcing everyone to choose sides. So my question to you is," he led, not wanting to ask, having no choice but to do so, "whose side are you on?"

"I… I don't know."

Kilik nodded at her answer. He himself couldn't say that he wasn't a hundred percent sure of his position on their argument. And after all… he and Spitfire were her brothers, but her beliefs lay with Sora's group. He turned away, walking away from her, calling back to her as he shoved his book into his satchel, "No worries Simca… just keep yourself safe."

He had to go now. He had to get his own group together, to set up if they were going to push not only Sora's group, but the rest of the Stormriders back. He thought to himself, as he looked at the lists of people he considered adding to his roster.

_'Is betrayal… really betrayal, if it's for their own good?'_

* * *

**- Naruto's Mindscape -**

**_Immediately after falling unconscious_**

As soon as he'd fainted, Naruto suddenly appeared inside his mindscape, on top of the Hokage Monument overlooking Konoha. Confused, he looked around, unsure as to why he was back here, before a voice came at him from all sides.

"**So, you're finally here, kit."**

Puzzled at the familiar voice, Naruto asked loudly, not knowing where his old friend was, "Kyuubi? I thought you were back in Konoha?"

Chuckling deeply, the voice spoke out again, **"Naruto… I'm not Kyuubi."**

Deadpanning, Naruto replied, "Really. There's only one person I've heard that has this voice. And so far, he's the only one to call me 'Kit.'"

"**Hehehe, I should have put that line in a different context then,"** the voice replied, **"I'm not Kyuubi. I'm merely a fragment of his that he'd left behind."**

"So…" Naruto said, prompting the voice to continue.

"**I'm merely here as… an advisor, to help you along the way when I have the energy to do so."** The voice revealed itself, walking out of the tree-line behind the mountain, showing itself to be a man with facial features identical to Kyuubi, but with short-cropped, spiky hair and a tuxedo suit. **"If you wish, you may call me Kyuubi. I do not have all of his functions, nor could I grant you any energy, chakra or otherwise, as I am not him, and this isn't the body a half of you used to inhabit."**

"Hmm… Not that I'm angry., but why did he leave you here? " Naruto asked, taking a closer look at the fragment.

"**I'm here as a way for you to organize your mind. Knowing you, he thought that you wanting to merge with this world's 'Naruto' would be one of the first things out of your mouth once you've learned the situation. Am I wrong?"** the fragment of a fragment asked.

Sighing at the way his mentor had read him completely, Naruto replied, "Yeah, yeah. I got you. So… you're merely here to watch over me, and to help stabilize my mind in case something happens, correct? "

Nodding at the questions, the tux-wearing man replied, **"Pretty much. If you haven't remembered, as was in your memories, Kyuubi-sama was able to create a mental version of your Kage Bunshin. And before you ask, I do not know when he'd be meeting you again. And no, he won't receive my memories. I'm merely a copy as this place doesn't have an equivalent of the Kage Bunshin."**

"Okay. So, why's did he set up my mindscape like this? "

"**As far as my memory goes, I remember that you loved Konoha. Just not the people, correct?" **he asked, receiving a nod of acknowledgement from Naruto. **"As for anything else… hmm. Actually, there was this one memory that he was able to leave for you. He said that, from watching the memories of the previous body, he was able to see that this thing may be very important for you." **

A screen flashed to life in front of them, showing a pair of…

"Air-Trecks?" Naruto asked.

"**Correct. This Dr. Inari was a very smart man, just like our master."** The clone said reverently, **"He left this for you, leaving a note that you were supposed to be able to decipher, which I did for you." **The clone gestured, bringing up another screen besides the first, showing a blueprint of the Trophaeum Tower. **"Your set of Air Trecks should be at this location." **He said, pointing to a spot on the map. **"I can bring up a map that you could see, similar to those Heads Up Displays that you had when you wore those test helmets as 'Mal' back then."**

Eyes watering, Naruto turned to him and asked, "So you're some kind of computer in my head?"

Uncomfortable with the teen's look, the clone looked away, answering, **"Umm… yes."**

"That's so awesome!" Naruto shouted, jumping up and pumping his fist in the air.

"**I… suppose so. But Kyuubi-sama also wanted me to stay here to mention things to you. Things that your body could still do, and would be able to do." **

"Hmm…" Naruto pondered, putting his hand underneath his chin, thinking deeply. "So, you're like one of those AI's in those games they had when we were in the lab?"

"**Correct. Actually, that would be the most apt description of me to date."** The newly dubbed 'AI' acknowledged. **"Now, if you would listen for a bit, would you like to know about your abilities?" **he asked.

"Hmm… not yet. I want to work them out on my own. If I need help, I'll ask." Naruto stated, "Knowing all of them wouldn't be half as fun as learning them. But… I have to make sure. There is no chakra correct?"

"**Correct. Nevertheless…"** the Clone paused.

"Nevertheless…" Naruto parroted, excited about what it might be.

"**I forget."** Was the reply, causing Naruto to face-palm.

"Really?" he asked from behind his hand.

"**No." **the clone stated, causing Naruto to face-fault. Ignoring the glare that Naruto shot at him after he'd gotten up, the copy continued, **"There is this energy, as you know, that exists in this world. The people here are able to harness it, the 'Gravity Children' more so than normal people due not only their altered genes, but their gear… these A-T's. This energy does not have a distinct form of its own until molded by someone or something. If anything, you could just associate them with the elements. If you do so, however, you would fail to accept any additional forms for this energy to take. This energy is accessible to everyone, present in the atmosphere, primarily fused with the wind." **The mind-butler declared.

"So… one who controls the wind, controls everything?"

Shaking his head, he replied, **"No. But they have a larger area of effect in relation to everyone else, so it's only easier for them to do so. The energy is malleable, allowing one to bend it to their will, creating fire, lighting, swords and the like. But unless one has a sufficient affinity with them, they won't be able to use the abilities without a corresponding set of Air Trecks."** pausing, he saw Naruto thinking, and prompted him to ask his question.

"How much does one person have? This energy?"

The fragment smiled,, **"See, that's the beauty of this world. Sure, one would have a limited amount of this energy, but like our original world… it's also determined by affinity and control. The people here have affinities to the 'aspects,' as I like to call them, but it's usually just one. Your case of a dual affinity is a rare thing. As it was only possible because your body here had a sliver of water affinity that Kyuubi-sama was able to boost to a level rivaling your body's amazingly high natural wind affinity."** He paused, checking whether Naruto had gotten the information it was alright, he continued, **"Unlike our original world, it seems that the people here can access elements or abilities from the aspects that they are not affiliated with." **

Seeing a 'but,' Naruto prodded, "But-?"

**"But they wouldn't be able to use the aspect's abilities fully." **

"But…as long as they have the 'correct set' of gear, the parts that Air Trecks consist of, they would be able to tap into another aspect… right?" Naruto asked, receiving a hesitant nod.

**"But for you to use an ability possessed by the Rising Road that your friend Blackburn 'rides' is not really possible, unless you use his gear. But the fact that you do not possess the 'lightning' aspect means that your body would be strained; more than likely beyond any hope of repair despite your regeneration."**

"Oh."Naruto replied. There wasn't much to say about that.

**"However, due to the fact that your road. The Wing Road and Dontores' Over Road's qualities rely on the wind, you should be able to at the very least, use his abilities although they may be at a lesser scale than he would be able to produce." **Pausing, the clone added on, **"At least, in hypothesis…"**

"So, you're saying that it might be possible to branch out, and at the very least, mimic the abilities of a different road? And create a new one from the combination?" Naruto asked, excited at the news. Receiving two nods from his new 'A.I.' he declared, "This is going to be fun!" as he started walking away from the top of the mountain before he paused, turning to face the 'A.I.' "Now, final question before I explore… is it possible to use this energy in a similar way to chakra?" Receiving another nod, Naruto grinned, his canines showing prominently. "Really fun."

* * *

**- Hospital Room, Clock-tower -**

**_November 16, 2000 : 7:32 P.M. – Eleven Hours Later_**

Naruto woke up with a groan, feeling hungry. Taking a look around, he noticed that the IV was taken out of his arm, and that there were these plugs attached to his forehead, his chest and his arms. Taking a second to pull them off, he shifted himself off the bed, steadying himself on his feet. Realizing that he was able to at least stand up straight, he thanked both the A.I. and Kyuubi for keeping his body in a relatively fit state. _'It'd have really sucked to not be able to move around, like normal people'_ he thought, not wanting to end up similar to regular people who fell into comas. _'Baxter, please note that the number one thing to avoid this time… is a coma.'_

'**_Noted.'_** The voice of his newly named 'A.I.' called back, **_'now, do you want me to pull up a map to the direction of your Uncle's lab?'_**

'_No. I'm heading for food first. I'm hungry.'_ Naruto grinned, opening the window. _'I'm gonna go see what is on the menu.'_ He told Baxter as he channeled the energy, which he decided to dub 'Kan' as he was tired of calling it 'energy,' to his feet, identical to the way that a ninja back there would do when using the tree-climbing exercise. Putting his feet on the window-sill, he tested the 'sticky' property of the ability he was using. The Kan was more chaotic, giving him enough traction to push off of, but not enough to completely stick him to the sill. And unlike Chakra, which in its natural form, tended to make itself quite small. This planet's energy seemed to want to expand, as if begging to be released. _'Note to self. Explore more practical applications of the energy that exists here.' _

"Perfect." He stated, the molded energy looking to be sufficient enough to get him to the bottom of the building without any problem. As he made motions to jump, thrusting himself forward, he was choked by someone holding the neck of his hospital attire. Urk-!"

Hanging just outside the window, with nothing but support from the arm that was choking him, he turned around slowly and saw, the nurse from this morning, Ine holding him by the scruff of his… attire. Digging his hands around his throat to stop himself from choking, he took a deep breath of fresh air.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked in a dark voice he attributed as a sign of the 'irritated-woman boost' that was sure to come.

"Umm…" he thought quickly, not wanting to feel pain so soon, "out to eat?" he squeaked, unable to keep his voice from doing so.

"Right. And why didn't you call for help? Why did you remove the monitors for that matter?" she asked, continuing to glare.

"Umm, no one mentioned it to me?" he asked, unsure, "I don't even know how to call…"

She sighed, muttering about how people didn't do as she asked, pulling him inside and shutting the window before she pushed a button on a remote, causing him to jump at the slamming sound that metal bars made as they barred the window. "So you're hungry?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at his sorrowful look at the bars on his window.

"Ye-… yeah." He nodded, not wanting to piss her off. He made up an excuse, trying to get out of any trouble. "I was going to go to that one place that the guys and I went to when we would leave the Tower."

She sighed, pushing the button again, retracting the bars, "In only your hospital gown and shorts?"

"I prefer attire," he declared cheekily, "gown is too feminine, not that there is anything wrong with that," he waved his hands in front of him, not wanting to unintentionally gain her ire, "But I was really hungry, and I decided that it was worth going out in these."

"How were you going to pay?" she asked, as she sent a message to Spitfire, using her mobile phone.

"Umm… yeah, I wasn't thinking about that." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head, before asking her, "What's that thing you used, by the way? Some sort of messaging device?"

"Yeah, it's a mobile phone. Lots of people are using them these days, the user base is growing at a similar rate A-T's are. As for what it does, it can send messages as well… well, the ones that we make. I sent a message for Spitfire to come by and bring some food."

"Oh, you're a Tuner?" he asked, interested.

"Mmhmm, Spitfire-kun's specifically, although I do help maintain the others." she replied, causing him to take on a pondering look as she continued, "Simca-chan is Rika-chan's official Tuner. She also helps me maintain the status of the AT's that you use."

"But we don't need Tuners; our bodies should be able to sufficiently use the ATs without taking severe physical damage. Weren't you guys supposed to be just for the people who the ATs weren't made for?"

"You're only partially correct, but the gears need tuning, and Spitfire-kun…" she trailed off, receiving a message from said person.

"Oh." Naruto said, taking her silence as an admission, "Oh, he and you?" he asked, pointing his index fingers together.

"Yeah." She smiled, before she held out her hand. "It's nice to officially meet you, though, Mal."

"Nah," he replied, "Call me Naruto." He declared, shaking the pro-offered hand. "It's…" he searched for a term, "A new start for me. By the way… where are they? They don't stay at the Tower anymore?"

She shook her head, "No. After they left the Tower, they all decided to stay at their own places, doing their own thing when they're not riding. Dontores became a rapper, a type of singer; he's quite popular you know. Blackburn just settled down working at an electric company, of all things." They both laughed at that before they continued, "And Spitfire… well,"

"Well?" He prompted, wanting to know.

"I'm a… hair stylist, nii-san." Spitfire stated flatly, as he came in through the window, bringing some food in take-out bags.

"Hay-what?" Naruto deadpanned, not sure if he heard it right.

"Hair-stylist." Spitfire repeated, placing the food on the small table in the corner of the room.

"Why?" Naruto asked, curious.

"Why wouldn't I?" Spitfire retorted, as he turned back to his… 'elder' brother. Meanwhile, Ine took a seat by the small table and started digging out the food as they had their conversation.

"I dunno. That's why I'm asking." Naruto replied, as he tried to look around Spitfire, trying to see the food.

"It's…" Spitfire struggled with his answer, not wanting to declare the reason.

Ine, seeing her boyfriend struggling with his reply, answered for him as she finished taking the food out of the bags, "It's because he was jealous of your hair."

"My hair?" Naruto asked, feeling his hair and wondering what it was about his hair that his brother was jealous of. Trying to get his head around the fact that his brother was jealous of his hair, he asked again, "My hair?" incredulously.

Taking the cover off of one of the bowls of ramen that Spitfire brought, and inhaling the scent of the food, she replied, "Mmhmm… he didn't like how we liked your hair more than his." as she took a pair of chopsticks and started eating it.

Deciding to finish explaining the situation, as he saw Naruto was practically drooling at the sight of the food, "That and I wanted to know how the hell you could have such awesome hair. I mean, I've looked at all the ways people managed and fixed their hair… but yours." Spitfire trailed off, puzzled, "I still can't figure out how you even got hair that soft. It feels so much like fur, it's practically impossible." He continued, handing the salivating Naruto his food and a pair of chopsticks absentmindedly, ignoring his brother, his girlfriend and his food as he continued. "I mean, how did you do it?" he asked, "I mean, even before you were in the coma, your hair was unnaturally soft. Then after you fell into the coma, it grew softer! I mean, seriously, how the hell did that even happen?" he practically demanded, turning around and seeing that they finished his food.

Seeing that Spitfire had finally turned around, Naruto leaned forward, done with his own ramen and eating what looked to be his younger brother's serving. "It's…" he stated, drawing both Ine and Spitfire in. Taking another gulp of the food, he twirled the chopsticks around, gathering the remaining strands of ramen in the bowl.

"It's..." he whispered, making sure to look around, as if suspicious. The Flame King and the Pledge Queen drew closer to him, trying to hear him better. Finished grabbing the remaining strands, he popped it into his mouth with a twitch of his hand. Setting the chopsticks and the bowl down, he moved closer to them, before he whispered, grinning.

"It's a secret."

The answer causing both Ine and his brother to unintentionally trip and land on their faces, in other words, a face-fault. After a few seconds, they stood up and looked around before they noticed he wasn't there, but they found a note attached to the window. Reaching over and taking it, Spitfire handed it to Ine after he read it.

_I might tell you later. But for now Thanks for the Ramen! You don't know how long it's been… actually, maybe you do._

_- Naruto_

_P.S. I'll be back. I promise. I just have to find some things, you know?_

"The hell, he ditched us, and without revealing his secret." Spitfire pouted, not liking the fact that his brother had disappeared once again, not even leaving the reason for why his hair was so cool.

Sensing her boyfriend's saddened mood, Ine walked over to him, and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, "Do you think we should chase after him?"

"No. It's fine… at least we knows he's alright. We should leave him for a bit." he said softly, "He probably just wants to find some place to work all of it out. He was always like that when he was troubled. And besides, he always kept his promises."

Ine nodded, accepting his reasoning before Spitfire grinned and picked her up, causing her to squeak. "At least we're alone now." he said, before he kissed her. Moaning into the kiss, she hugged him closer to her, before he realized something as his stomach grumbled.

'_I'm getting hungry… Hey! Where's my Ramen?'_ he thought, absentmindedly pushing his girlfriend away, as he looked for any sign of his eXtra Large Ramen Bowl. Spotting the larger than normal bulge one of the bags had, indicating his bowl; he dug it out, before screaming, "Heck yeah! …The hell?" realizing the emptiness of said bowl, before he turned to a disgruntled Ine, "Where's my damn ramen, woman?" before he realized the words he had just uttered.

"Oh, shit." He eloquently stated right before his girlfriend slapped him and stormed out of the room, pressing a button on the wall as she walked out, locking it down. Sniffling, he took a look at the bars on both the doors and the windows. Going through the bags after realizing he was staying here, he dug through them and only found some crackers and about half of the drinks… "at least it's still something." He told himself, not wanting to break down at the situation he found himself in once again.

Hours later, he crawled into the bed still hungry. "I didn't mean to, Ine…" he whispered, trying to get his precious Ine-hime to listen to him through the messaging device. "Damn you, nii-san, only a day back and you're already getting me in trouble." He said, as he cried himself to sleep soon after.

* * *

**- Outside the Trophaeum, Clock-Tower -**

**_November 16, 2000 : 8:13 P.M. – An Hour Later_**

After leaving both the tuner and the rider back in his hospital room, Naruto made his way back to the place where it all began. The 'Trophaeum' Tower. Naruto made his way up the tower with little trouble, which was mainly attributed to the fact that the energy he pushed to his feet, using the bastardized form of Tree-walking that he created, wasn't adhesive enough. Feeling the wind as he ran up the side of the Clock-tower, helping himself along with his hands every once in a while made him remember the good old days during his time as Maelstrom. He loved feeling the wind once again. It was nice out tonight, with the moon shining. Illuminating all for him to see, contrasting the glow that the city's lights showed.

He laughed, saying, "Damn… if I wasn't able to use this like Chakra…" as he arrived at the small alcove that served the exit. Testing the control he had over the technique, he lowered the amount of Kan that he tried to consolidate into an adhesive form and smiled at the result. His foot practically slid across the floor, only retaining enough adhesiveness for him to control the direction. Making sure that he was able to maintain it while moving, he pulled a hidden lever in the Alcove, revealing a small entrance into the side of a large pipe.

Grinning as he pulled the lever from the inside, closing the door, he hopped over the side and literally skated down the pipe that went back inside the main tower, using the Kan's flow similar to the way one's chakra would when using the Water Walking technique. How the people didn't know to use this technique this way back in his world, he didn't know, "This would be way harder there with it being stickier there. But it doesn't matter now!" he declared, pushing a burst of energy down his legs, to emanate from behind the soles of his feet, propelling him faster down the pipe. (as a reference, think of the battle between Naruto and Sasuke in the Valley of the End, where they weren't even running on water, but just 'skating' on top of it without moving their feet)

His hair streaming behind him, eyes taking in every detail in the very dimly lit area, he swerved around the 'obstacles' as he and his friends called the pieces that stuck out from the walls. Seeing the last curve of the tunnel, he decided to pull off one of his favorite maneuvers, trying to test out whether he was able to use it without A-T's. Moving around the last hurdle, he shoved even more Kan to the back of his feet, propelling himself forward, as he crouched, turning himself into a human bullet as he rounded the corner. Seeing the small 'ramp' at the end of it, he kicked off of it, leading with his right foot, propelling himself into the air.

Floating through the air, he spun… laughing out loud at the familiar feeling of flight encompassed his being, never noticing the gaze of the person present below him. Shouting out to the empty, to him, area as he flew, "Take that! That's Maelstrom's 3780 Tornado Special!" as he landed backwards on one leg, his other limbs still held out, still rotating slightly to his left due to his momentum and the slippery Kan on his feet. Taking a glance at the opposite side of the chasm, he smiled at the memories before he turned around, just missing a jutting spike. Sweating at his carelessness which almost got him impaled by said spike, he increased the flow of Kan and started running, allowing just enough to keep his feet from blistering as he slid past certain areas, determined to make it to the place Dr. Minami stored his gear.

* * *

The person back at the chasm looked up at the sound of someone descending their 'secret exit.' Deciding to hide herself, she hid behind one of the pillars that peppered the chasm, allowing those less in tune with flight to make it across. Suddenly, a blonde figure flew across the chasm… 'In a hospital gown?' she mouthed to herself, before hearing the shout of his technique. She watched, incredulous, at the figure that had flown out from the pipe end, spinning sideways as he landed on the other side. _'Even Sora can't do that.'_ She told herself, deciding to follow the person as was her duty as part of the Sleeping Forest, she thought to herself. _'I… didn't see him have any A-T's… is that even possible?'_ shaking herself from thoughts of the impossible, she took a deep breath as she reminded herself, _'It's just a lack of sleep is all.'_ before she rode the wall, chasing the blonde.

* * *

Finding himself lost at the new configuration of the Tower despite Baxter's insistence that his route was correct, Naruto backtracked to the location of his uncle Inari's 'secret' lab, which apparently, contained him in a cryogenic chamber. Frowning at the fake location of the place where his gear was stored, he blamed tower's changes after finding the entrance to the lab after making a few more wrong turns.

Entering it, _'See, I told you it was wrong.'_ He told Baxter, causing the Cloned Intelligence to grumble.

**_'They may have changed the configuration.'_** He conceded, **_'It has been a while since you were in the Tower after all.'_**

Nodding in assent, Naruto searched through the room. Finding the one-way mirror that overlooked the Cryogenic Freezer, he smiled, thanking the good doctor for caring so much for him. Turning back around, he rummaged through the drawers and cabinets before finding a small latch hidden behind… a stack of porn? Ignoring the stash of porn, he flipped the latch, revealing a doorway. Pushing the stack back to hide the latch, he made his way to the 'secret door.' He sniffed the air before he held his nose, "ugh, stale air…" waving his hand in front of him, in an attempt to wave the smell away from him. Shrugging, he descended the passageway, the door quickly closing behind him. Sweat-dropping at the many ways he could have been killed had he been back in the Elemental Countries, he turned back towards the ramp, his night vision helping him, he moved forward, "No way to go now, but forward."

* * *

She was frustrated, her red hair trailing behind her as she moved down the hallway. "What is it? First, he looks like he knows where he's going. Then all of a sudden, he runs around like a headless chicken!" Following the blonde figure with a device that detected presences in the Tower, she thought she could cut him off from his destination, only to find that he'd doubled back. And as she made her way back, attempting to cut him off again, he'd gone and turned back again. Deciding to wait at her current area, she decided to see where he'd head next, the destination surprising her as it was a location where no rooms were indicated on the device. Then two minutes ago, he just disappeared. This made her attempt to trace where he last was, which was a pain because she could barely use the device in the first place.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed in frustration, kicking the wall, the area where she knew he last was. Looking at the 'locator' as she called it, it showed she was at the same spot he was as of… eight minutes ago. Turning around, she looked at the area where she kicked the wall, the hole letting light shine through. Deciding that there must have been a secret room and that she may as well finish the job, she quickly cut the door down, without activating her regalia and moved into the room.

"What in the world?" she asked herself as she looked into a now obvious, due to her efforts, 'secret room.' Looking around, she noticed the opened cabinets and drawers. Moving over to look through them for any sign of where the intruder went, she glanced at the window, before she moved closer, intrigued. The room that was being 'observed' by the one she was currently in, looked cool if not cold, if the feeling she had just from touching the glass was any indication. Other than a few wires and pipes, the only things in the room were a console attached to a vertical cylinder, containing a flat surface inside.

"A bed?" she pondered, wondering who was kept down here, and if the intruder was the one in the cylinder. Shaking her head, she moved around, looking through the drawers, before she found… a stack of magazines? "What the hell?" she muttered, "Who would keep this stuff in a place like this?" she asked herself, before finding out what was inside the magazines, throwing the hidden stash into the only trashcan present in the room, "Actually, who would keep this stuff anyways?" she scoffed as she threw the remaining offending items into the trash.

Turning back to make sure there were no others she missed, she found a latch that was hidden by the stack of magazines. Pulling it, she heard a sound to her left, revealing a dark passageway. "Probably went this way then," she told herself as she pressed a button on the locator, making it glow, moving its display to face away from her, lighting her way.

* * *

Naruto continued down the hallway, breathing with his mouth, wondering where it was going to take him, just as ramp leveled, and he walked into a room the size of an apartment flat. Wondering what was in here, he pushed his senses out wards, and realized that the in here wasn't stale at all. Allowing himself to breathe in the fresher air through his nostrils, he took in the sights of the room and proceeded to face-palm at the image in front of him. The room was completely empty, besides the lone stand with a box in the middle; and it was dark, apart from the lone source of illumination… a spotlight that shone down on the box from the ceiling. Moving closer, not finding any other alternative, he found a small pad lit with the words

**Place hand on pad.**

Shrugging as he did so, he heard a hiss as the room sealed itself shut. Squaring his shoulders, he turned back to the box, only to find it flashing with the words,

**Checking Database…**

**Querent's identity confirmed.**

**Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto.**

**Scanning Status of Subject…**

**Subject is awake and operating under own power…**

**Activating Program:**

**~Welcome Back, Maelstrom~**

**Opening.**

The box opened, making Naruto tense, ready for anything, as it revealed a… big, red button.

Sighing at all of the weird things he'd gone through since his arrival, he pushed the button and the wall opposite the door flared, surprising him, and blinding him for a second. He shook his head, blinking, before his eyesight readjusted itself and he recognized the form of the figure on the screen.

"Uncle?" he whispered, wondering why he'd have a setup like this in the first place.

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a red-haired woman dressed in a black trench coat over a black shirt and short shorts. On her, she had a set of black AT's, with yellow and white stripes and with wheels that he remembered seeing on someone else. Zeroing in on him, and shining the light onto his face from a device in her hand, she asked, "Who are you… and what are you doing here?"

As he was about to reply, the video began. **_"Hello, Naruto."_** Drawing Naruto's attention back, away from the intruder.

The video shocking the female who walked in, whose focus moved to the screen and asked, "Uncle Minami?"

Not hearing her, the video continued. **_"Mal… Naruto."_** He smiled, **_"It could only be you. This area has been signed off by me, accessible only to you."_** Smiling conspiratorially, he stage whispered, **_"I hope you enjoy the stack of… special magazines I've left for you."_** Before he got hit with an AT wheel in the head. Both Naruto and Rika snorted in sync, as Inari shot a dark look at the person who was taking the video. He quailed at the invisible rebound glared and looked to the side. Clearing his throat, he continued, **_"Anyways, that cabinet would only have opened for you… that's why this video is for you. And if someone else came in and tried to activate that pad…"_** he shrugged, allowing the audience to envision what may have happened.

**_"In any case, it's been ages. If you don't remember me, it's your 'Uncle' Inari. I don't know when you'll be up, but hopefully it's in your siblings lifetime."_** Gesturing at the lab, which both Rika and Naruto recognized as the lab they came through, **_"If you don't recognize this place behind me… It's the place where I've kept you hidden from the rest of the company. My lab,"_** he chuckled, **_"My very own 'Secret Laboratory.' Like I said, I don't know when you'll get up from your coma. I've… done everything I can, and more."_** He whispered sadly to himself, **_"So much more, but still it wasn't enough." _**Inari moved, the camera following, as he looked upon the figure in the tube.

Seeing the body, and the identical male beside her, Rika put one and one together, but decided to let it play out. Wanting to know how her uncle knew him.

**_"That's you, Naruto. You… you were in a coma since 1989. The computer shall tell you what year it is by now. It's depressing, you know? Seeing the eldest and most lively child of your greatest friends so still, so quiet."_** Inari shed a tear, **_"Your parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, wanted to have children but were unable to due to reasons I'm sure you'd rather not know."_** He laughed drily, **_"Ahh. Well, In any case, I came to them, when I was the assistant head of the Gravity Children project under Professor Makigami."_** The realization hit Naruto with the force of a speeding car. _'That's right… Ine was the daughter of the previous head. But she isn't a Gravity Child herself.'_

**_"We were taking genes from certain people, and modifying them, trying to reach the peak of human potential, and attaining control over this energy that pervades the world so that we won't have any more energy problems."_** He stopped himself, scratching his left cheek, embarrassed. **_"But I'm getting off track. They agreed, only succeeding in naming you before they died. Their plane crashed over the Pacific on their way to their delayed honeymoon."_** Naruto's throat went dry, after hearing how his parents had died. **_"They wanted to have four children, two boys and two girls. In the end, they got more than they wished. They wanted to be here, to visit, to hold you, to name you all."_** At this, Naruto started tearing up, unable to stop himself.

**_"You're the Third oldest of the children that were 'created' in the lab. Dontores, one of your friends, is the oldest, remember?"_** Inari continued, trying to alleviate the situation, **_"As for you and your siblings. You're the first, if you don't remember. The eldest of Five. Although the company didn't allow more than three children per set of parents, I've fudged the records, so that You and Spitfire, Kilik and Simca are set down as coming from different parents, if you don't remember."_** That information, which Naruto did remember, caused Rika to gasp at the connection and the similarities between the people she knew.

**_"Now, if you haven't been found by your siblings and haven't caught the 'Five.' You have another sibling. This… this happened because one of my 'rivals' decided to make himself a 'miniature genius Kushina'."_** He spat, **_"The bastard. I found out about her around the time I left the company and went into hiding. A year after that, my son was born. Two years before you showed signs of increased recovery. I found her."_** At this, he held up pictures of two children that Rika knew well, she was taking care of them with her parents after all, **_"Itsuki 'Ikki' Minami and Mikan. I've given them to my sister recently. I know that time is short, but I hope that you'll wake. That you'll be able to help take care of them, or at the very least be present in their lives. My wife and I, we're trying to leave the country. We left Ikki and Mikan at my brother's so that if we do get caught, they won't be caught in the crossfire." _** Inari stated, as he walked towards the camera, turning it and showing himself standing beside a beautiful violet-haired woman, **_"Yuri and I hope that… you'll find your way back. Or that your siblings find a cure. It doesn't matter to me, as long as you're safe."_** He wiped the edges of his eyes. **_"As for information about what's happening with your siblings, I'd say get the information straight from the source."_** Inari and Yuri moved down the hallway that Naruto and Rika had moved into the room from, **_"Now, Yuri here-"_** he began.

**_"No, let me do this."_** She told her husband, before she received a nod, **_"Hello, as he'd said, I'm your aunt, well, not biological, right"_** she asked Inari, who shook his head.

**_"No, your parents were only my greatest friends. We may as well have been siblings though."_**

**_"Okay, well, in any case… after Ina-kun had brought me to the Tower, he showed me all of the wondrous technology and introduced me to your siblings and you… kind of. In any case, I was a technology major, with a doctorate in engineering, and he allowed me to learn from the Tuners." _** She laughed, **_"It was hard. But it was fun. Ina-kun and your siblings told me what they remembered of you. And of your position as the 'Wind King.'"_** She smiled indulgently at the viewers, while Rika glanced at the blonde, taking a closer look at him before her attention was once again drawn to the video.

**_"After your coma, they'd redone the _Moonstruck Drop Bagram_ to suit Sora." _**She shook her head, **_"It seems that despite you two being good friends, he didn't take being second place, or a replacement very well."_** The comment making Naruto frown, **_"I know both of you were competing for the right to use the 'wind' with Sora being very adept, and due to his age, he did have a chance of obtaining it as you were both told. After your coma, though, the person who gave him the Bagram core spitefully mentioned that it was truly you they were making it for and that he was only a placeholder, that he was only someone they needed to test the gear. That it was truly yours."_**

Inari interrupted, **_"I fired him soon after, but the damage was done. If you meet Sora, he may not be the boy who you've taught, who looked up to you anymore."_** The statement saddening Naruto, who was happily going to let Sora keep the 'wind' once he learned of his dual affinities. **_"You should get back to the point."_** Inari whispered, checking his watched before he nuzzled his wife's neck. **_"We don't exactly have that much time before the flight."_**

Nodding, Yuri continued, **_"In any case, we're getting sidetracked. You see, after learning how to make cores and the A-T's, I decided to make one for you. And, due to your body's unique characteristics, it's not complete. But, I based the core off of Bagram, which Inari had blueprints for."_** She smiled, as she held up two sets of AT wheels, **_"I know that I don't really know you, especially now that you're older… that you haven't seen me, but at the very least I wanted to leave something for you. They're not completed yet, because you haven't been up to test them, but Simca helped me with these. These, are two sets of your own regalia. One set to be used and another to be worked on. These sets are called the _Dawn-Borne Eos_, in celebration of your awakening... There are also other prototypes that we've made, but most are only blueprints so far. I... I guess this is it. Know that I, too, love you. In my own way, despite never knowing you. Good-bye, Mal."_** She said, tearing up as she left the view of the camera, leaving Inari and the viewers teary-eyed, hearing her bawl in the background.

**_"Umm… yeah."_** Inari said, suppressing the urge to cry and rush over to his wife and comfort her, **_"I guess that's it. Think of it as years upon years of birthday and Christmas presents okay, Naruto? Whatever you do, know that Yuri and I will be proud of you."_** He moved towards the camera, bringing it to his face before he shut it off, **_"With love, my dearest nephew. Good-bye. See you in the afterlife." _**

As the video ended, with both Naruto and Rika sniffling, the room lit up followed by a deep rumbling sound. Then the left side of the room shifted, walls coming down and expanding the room, revealing a bed, couches and a workshop along the left wall which contained a few sets of A-T's and what seemed to be the cores and wheels that were mentioned. The right side shifted right after, revealing a small kitchen, and some walls coming up, separating the bathroom, and the kitchen, the whole effect the area into an apartment flat.

"Huh, I guess this is where they stayed huh?" Naruto asked himself, before turning towards the girl in the room with him, "Hey, who are you?"

Rika, still shocked at the way the room transformed, could only answer, "Rika, Noyamano Rika."

"Hmm, Rika, huh?" Naruto parroted, thinking about when he heard that name, "Oh, yeah, you're that person who's using Gazelle's 'gear' right?" receiving no answer from the girl, shrugged and asked her, "So, what're you doing here, Rika-san?"

Coming back to her senses, she replied, "What are you doing here? No one is supposed to enter the Tower?"

Raising his eyebrow, "I lived in the tower, Rika-san. This is my home." He moved away from her, hoping to find some clothes in one of the rooms, "What about you? Why are you here?"

Unable to come up with a reply to his statement of the Tower being his home, she said, "I'm here because I'm supposed to prevent Stormriders from entering the Tower."

"Hmm, Stormriders… I'm not a Stormrider." He declared, nodding as he found a cabinet filled with clothes, he turned back. "Okay, can you turn around?"

"What, why?" she asked perplexed.

"Umm, I'm going to put some clothes on because I don't have anything on besides this." He gestured to his attire, which consisted of only the hospital gown and the pair of shorts.

"R-right!" she said, turning away, as she'd forgotten that he was indeed wearing a hospital gown due to the appearance of her Uncle and Aunt, as well as the room's abrupt change. Hearing some rustling, she decided to move closer to the A-T workshop, observing the cores and the wheels, which seemed to be well made, maintained and looked like they didn't have any problems.

As she moved over to the A-T's, Naruto moved over to the bathroom and proceeded to put on a set of Jeans that fit him well. As well as a burnished orange shirt of Inari's that was bit small for him but fit him anyways, which he was grateful for, he came back out to see Rika looking at the A-T's. "Hey. I'm done." He declared wanting to continue the conversation.

Turning back around, she saw him dressed, and had to admit he looked nice, especially since he'd apparently just recovered from a coma. Taking a closer look at his face, she saw that he had long, blonde spiky hair that was pushed back, the ends tapering off into spikes, the longest reaching the middle of his back. His face had three pairs of symmetrical whisker marks his cheeks, drawing the attention to his eyes, which were a deep blue. Noticing that he was waiting for her to reply, she blushed, nodding back at him. _'Can't get focused on another guy,'_ she berated herself, _'I'm not even sure what the hell is happening between me and Sora anymore, not to mention Kilik's confession two nights ago.'_

Raising his eyebrow at her stare, he shrugged, moving closer to the A-T's. Pulling up a seat, he motioned for her to do the same as he picked up some screwdrivers and a set of little needles. "So, Rika-san… how do you know uncle Inari?" he asked, taking a set of Black A-T's that had orange stripes on it, mimicking a tiger, and started tinkering with them, making sure that the set would fit him.

"He's my genuine Uncle, on my father's side…" she answered, deciding that if her uncle trusted him, and he truly was the eldest brother of her fellow members of Sleeping Forest… she could trust him. Sitting down, she took the other set of A-T's, taking a screwdriver and loosening the boot section of the A-T's. "So…" she started, "Is it true?"

He nodded, finished loosening the boot, and putting his foot inside, tightening it after he found a nice fit. "Yeah… I just didn't know who my parents were." He shook his head, "unlike some of the other children, our parents were dead, and Dr. Inari was pretty much my father." He said, making sure that the wheels were set and wouldn't come off any time soon. "Our father… do you know if he?"

Rika shook her head in the negative, handing him the loosened 'boot.' "I don't know. It was only about last year that he came by and had us promise to take care of the children. I guess I just found out why…" she trailed off as she watched him repeated the process on his right foot. "How did you even get in here? That pipe isn't known to the public…"

He smiled, standing up, and offering her a hand, "Hehe, you know you're talking to the previous leader of that group you call Sleeping Forest, right?" he taunted, as he took her hand, pulling her up and declaring "I know the tower inside and out!"

She snorted, "And you weren't going back and forth, not knowing exactly where you were?"

Coughing at the called bluff, he conceded, "Fine, fine… I used to. How'd you even know, anyways?"

Bringing out the thing she called the 'locator,' she pointed at it, "This thing. But I don't even know how it all works."

"Ahh, okay." He said, as he found an empty backpack in one of the cabinets and started putting the cores and blueprints as well as a spare set of A-T's inside it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked, "Why are you taking them, didn't you just say that you lived here?"

He shook his head, "The towers shutting down… at least that's what they said…" he replied, moving to add some tuning tools to the bag, before he realized that Simca and Ine probably had some, and just gathered some standard wheels and a third set of A-T's instead.

"Oh, yeah… where are you going to stay though?"

"Hmm… I might ask Spitfire if he'll let me stay over… or Kilik… actually…" He pondered, wanting to avoid mentioning the hospital.

"You could come over, and meet Mikan and Ikki?" she asked out of the blue, wondering why she did so.

"Re-really! Sure!" he shouted, overjoyed. Giggling at his response, she eyed him as he closed the bag up and slung it over his shoulder. "Lead the way, Rika-chan!"

Moving back towards the passageway, she held the 'locator' in front of her, lighting the way. She turned back, noticing him not moving, "What's wrong?"

"Umm… gimme a sec," he replied, _'Crap… I hope I don't fail spectacularly… It's been a while since I've been on a set of Air Trecks.'_

Reaching down to unlock the motors, he added pressure to the balls of his feet, making the A-T's move forward in a way that was completely familiar. _'Hehe, alright… no problems here! It's too much of a good thing to forget. Like that one professor said, "_just like riding a bike"._'_ he mentally declared as he spun around, taking one last look at the room before he left. Spotting a stack of photos and what looked to be a photo album by the kitchen counter; he quickly grabbed them and shoved them into the bag alongside the Air Trecks.

Adding pressure to the soles of his feet, getting used to using his Air Trecks with his new size, they propelled him forward and he nodded to Rika who began leading the way. '_I'll be back to get the rest of the things one day._' he mentally called back to the room, as the door closed behind them.

"So, Rika-chan," he asked, trying to make conversation, "how's life treating you?"

She huffed, glancing back at him and answered, "Before I answer that, where are your previous AT's? The ones that you used to get here?"

Inwardly sweating at the fact that he was caught, he immediately remembered one aspect of his Uncle's secret lab that he and his siblings always had fun with, "Yeah… you see, about that. I kinda just…"

"Just?" she prodded.

Saying the first thing that came to his mind, he said, "I took one from some dude outside."

"Say what?" her reply making him smile inwardly. _'Hook.'_

Finding what he said to be a reasonable enough explanation, "I took one from some dude outside that tried to… steal from me. I don't even know why he tried to, considering the fact that what I wore should have alerted him to what I really had on me. So I kinda hit him on the head and he was unconscious. So I took his ATs"

She laughed at that, before asking, "So where are they now?" her question made his inner smile grow larger. _'Line'_

"Oh, you know Uncle Minami's lab?" he questioned, receiving a nod. "That one trashcan of his, every ten minutes or so, at least back when I remembered it, the trashcan dispenses it's stuff directly into the trash repository, where it's sorted and stuff. Those AT's that I was using… well, I pretty much broke them from attempting a move I made over the chasm and decided to just go barefoot after I entered the lab."

"Hmm, sounds like it's possible." She reasoned out, "Well, since the trash was empty on my way in, I guess that they do work that way. We'll see about the stuff I threw in there right after though." Her reasoning made him sweat a bit, not that she could notice in the dark hallway, _'Line, don't fail me now.'_

Reaching the door after less than a minute of travelling upslope, Rika stopped by the door, wondering how to open it. Finding a similar pad to the one in the 'secret room,' Naruto shrugged, before reaching over her shoulder and setting his hand on it. She blushed at the contact just as the door unlocked and opened itself after half a second, revealing the room just the way they left it, except for the trashcan, which was empty.

"Hmm, I guess you were telling the truth then, Naruto." He called out in his mind, '_Hell yeah. Sinker! Thank you, Amaterasu-sama.'_

"As for your earlier question?" She smiled softly at him, inwardly comparing him to both of the males that were interested in her.

_'We'll see if he's better boyfriend material than those two. Besides, Sora has never really asked me out… all we've shared are a couple of heated Kisses. And Kilik just came out of the blue two days ago. He surprised me with his own kiss is all. But, we'll see.'_

"It's been… complicated." She shrugged, drawing his attention to the bouncing of her breasts before he quickly shot them back up to her face. Catching him catching himself, she giggled, causing him to blush and turn away.

_'We'll see. I've got time. I'm only fifteen after all.'_

* * *

**- Trophaeum Tower -**

**_November 16, 2000 : 10:21 P.M. – An hour or so later._**

Two shadowed figures stood in a lone hallway, staring each other down. One of them a dark-haired boy with an aviator cap, with bandages wrapped around his arms and a white shirt with jeans over a set of AT's which were covered by the shadows. The other a platinum-blonde haired boy, wearing a white suit outlined in green.

"So… Sora," the platinum-blonde began, "Is this really where…"

"Where we split?" the other replied, "Why are you turning away from me, Kilik? From us, the Sleeping Forest? Why won't you join me? We could recover the Sky Regalia for ourselves? To rule the sky!" throwing his hands out in an attempt to emphasize his point.

"No." Kilik replied, shaking his head, "I can't do it. That much power… is too much to lie in one person's hands. Sora, why can't you see reason?"

"But it won't be in my hands alone, Kilik."

"You know what I mean, Sora. Don't twist my words around. Besides, what will happen if the governments from across the world decide that you're too dangerous?"

"They won't even touch us." Sora grinned ferally.

"What if-" Kilik tried once again to reason with his friend.

"I repeat." Sora growled, "Won't even touch me. Besides, I'm not even going to do anything with it, but free everyone. If I'm not doing anything bad, there's no reason to come after me." Sora shrugged.

"I know that the reason you started The Sleeping Forest was that you wanted to protect the Sky Regalia… It's why I joined. But what did you really want?"

"What do you think?"

"I thought you wanted to protect it."

"I did." Sora's statement caught Kilik off guard. "Because really, what's the best way of protecting something like the Regalia. Other than making sure that it doesn't fall into anyone hands… it would be better protected by no one else but us. We, using its full potential like we do with our AT's."

"So… the true reason you made Sleeping forest was to attain it? And by doing so, protecting it?" Kilik asked, unable to turn his way of thinking around that idea.

"Got it in one." Sora stated, his eyes glinting from the moonlight.

"But if you wanted to attain it, why only do something like that now? Why make a move now, when the Tower's closing instead of before?"

"Because… can't you see?" Sora laughed, "Because the Tower wasn't closing!"

"What?"

"There was no need to rush!" Sora sighed, "But this is pointless. I see now that there's no point in trying to get you to see our way. I see now that you're not going to back down." Sora turned away. "Next time, one of us is going down, Kilik. Sleeping Forest will do it's duty." He called out as he walked away.

Kilik frowned, staring at the back of his old friend. "I guess so, huh." He laughed bitterly to himself, "Were you always like this…?" He sighed, and then turned away himself. He had to plan in order to be able to counter Sora and the rest of the group somehow.

_'But if he was really always like that, then would I really be able to if I don't even know him?'_

* * *

**- Chapter 6: End -**

* * *

**- Post-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

Bwahahaha! Air Gear Trick 295 is cool. It shows Minami. REALLY shows Minami. His actual name is Rinta Minami. At least, that's what it said in the Manga. He may be lying, but hey, I got 4/5 letters of his name right.

RINIA / RINTA or INARI / INART.

Actually, reading it, It looks kinda stupid. But hey, I'm glad of my nonsensical achievement, so I'll keep it here.

But yeah, the manga pwns, lol. Rinta's like,

"Kaito, get in the Mecha! You needs to saves Gazelle!"

"I don't know?"

"FINE!, I'll pelt you with paper airplanes bearing the Sleeping Forest poem!"

"OH NOES!"

but not really. Sorry, I just had to type that in. I'm kinda high from the sugar intake of Soda and butterfingers and staying up till 5 in the morning.

So yes, I'm happy that I left things open-ended in my explanations somewhat. So, if Gazelle somehow survives, I may pop her back in there or something, or may just keep her dead. I don't know, I haven't mentally written down anything related to that, so meh. I am thinking of a showdown between Rinta and Inari, but until I attain more information on Rinta, I'll have to hold off on that.

I am sorry, if some people don't like the fact that there seem to be a lot of explanations and conversations and close to no action so far. But it will come, it's just hard to set it up that way. I mean, he will be fighting a bit, if he's going to be climbing ranks when he creates and leads his own team, right? Hmm, At the very least, he'll be doing AT matches.

As for my next update, I think I may be able to pull off two this week as well due to the holiday even though I should probably get started on my end-of-term essays... We'll see, however.

But yeah, please send me a private message or a review or something, especially if you find some problems with my story. Especially inconsistencies. I hate those. So yeah.

Once again, I shall be back bringing forth more... words? Yeah. Words.

Until Next Time,

Margulide


	7. The Raging Storms Inside Us

**Disclaimer: And now, for the Seventh time, I state, "I do not own the Naruto franchise nor the Air Gear Franchise… Which are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Oh! Great (_Ōgure Ito)_, respectively..."**

'**_Thoughts.'_****/**_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" /**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

* * *

**- Pre-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

Any inconsistencies I have written in my story... please send message/review and I shall elaborate/gestu-speculate and edit the story, or answer it in a later chapter, if it isn't too disastrous. If it is though, I shall go and fix it up, or clear up any misunderstandings

Ahh, so yeah. Instead of having 2 chapters out this week, I could only belt one out. Partly due to my Reading of books for my Final Project/Exam stuff for my classes. Other than that... I'd have to say, I'm actually kind of sorry for not having finished two. In all actuality, I have stuff written down already, the next chapters already like 6k in already. Which would help for the next week since I'll mostly be busy. But...

**god of stuff** - thanks for the suggestions on a weapon for him to use. I was throwing the idea of having him use an AT weapon like Benkei's, and your idea could fit it in with a bunch of stuff I've been planning.

**sh8ad8ow - **Yes, it's been decided already. And please, read the Author's Notes, people. You'll find my reasons for having stuff, and my pleading for forgiveness upon not having other stuff in the story... in those sections. They sometimes give a time frame for my updates and the like.

As for the other Reviewers, thanks for the reviews, I think I'm doing good if what the reviews are saying hold any truth to them. Which I hope they do, btw.

As for all my other readers... and everyone else, enjoy the chapter... at least I hope you do. Please leave reviews though, it's sometimes hard to come up with stuff to add to an already awesome story like Air gear, or answer issues that people have found if people don't say anything.

Any reviews that I receive would boost my now Manhattan-sized Ego. Yeahp. Well, not really. But they help me feel all tingly inside from the sense of accomplishment and they help prod me to continue my writing. And, once again, it improves my writing if there are any discrepancies that people find.

* * *

ACL: 13,957 (Word Length- from FF dot Net)

Posted: November 27, 2010.

* * *

**Maelstrom Road**

**Ch 7…**

**~The Raging Storms Inside Us~**

* * *

**- Chapter 7: Start -**

* * *

**- Location near Higachu High School -**

_**November 16, 2000 : 11:21 P.M. – Two Hours or so later.**_

Naruto looked out at the city, its lights illuminating what the stars couldn't. The stars here weren't as visible as they were back in Konoha. But this was just as well, the people here were advanced technologically, more so than Konoha had been. More than any of the other 'great countries' had been. Only Yuki no Kuni (Land of Snow) and Amegakure no Sato (Village hidden in the rain) were rumored to be more technologically advanced than the rest. And from what he'd heard, this was way better. He turned himself away from his thoughts as he felt himself falling, paying more attention towards what they were doing. Timing his landing so that he wouldn't harm himself, Naruto crouched as he reached the rooftop of the building Rika had pointed out earlier as they set out from the Tower. He turned around, spinning slowly to his left, extending his right leg as he straightened up to let his momentum decrease, grinning at the woman that had offered to let him stay at her home.

"Hey, Rika-chan? Where to next?" he asked impatiently, wanting to see his little sister for the first time. But being as late as it was, he wouldn't mind settling for tomorrow.

Rolling her eyes at his antics as she landed on the building, coming to a hard stop, she glared at him from behind her curtain of red hair. _'Is this guy for real? From what Uncle said in his video… Naruto was in a coma. How is he-?'_

Feeling the glare she shot at him, as well as guessing what she was thinking, he smiled at her, "How am I so good?"

Dumbfounded, not knowing how he read her thoughts, she nodded slightly, "Not exactly the way I'd put it but yes. From what Uncle's video said-"

"Ahh… the coma." Naruto scratched his cheek with his right hand, grasping the backpack strap with his left, "You see… do you know what a gravity child is?"

Nodding in the affirmative, she replied, "Yeah. I know, pretty much all of Sleeping Forest is, other than me and Ine. Actually, scratch that. Only Ine and I aren't Gravity Children."

"Well, we have an increased regenerative rate. We heal at a faster rate than normal people do." Seeing her accept the answer with a hesitant nod, he nodded and then shrugged, trying to think of something else to add. _'Baxter, any Ideas?'_ he asked Kyuubi's clone.

'_**Well, Dr. Minami had used a procedure which worked your muscles, allowing you to keep your muscle mass and tone. But he stopped that shortly after Kyuubi-sama had arrived as it seemed there was no real need to. Kyuubi-sama had speculated that it was some sort of Electro-therapy.'**_

'_That's good, thanks Baxter.'_ He thanked his new tenant, before he finished answering Rika, "And Uncle Minami had some sort of Electro-therapy that allowed me to keep my muscle mass and tone. At least that was what Kilik said." Completely ignoring the fact that it wasn't Kilik who said anything about it nor the fact that it may not have been electro-therapy in the first place.

"I see, that makes some sense. It does explain why you're able to move so well despite your coma… but do you think you can keep it up?" she gestured at the place they came from, right before she stretched, rested enough from travelling from the Tower.

"Hey," he pouted, before striking a pose reminiscent of Gai, as he pointed to himself with his thumb. "You're talking to the best there is."

"Was." She replied, as she took off from the building in the direction of her parents' home, heading towards the most visible marker for the area in which she lived, which would help him make his way around.

"Was." He parroted, nodding after her before he realized what he said. "Hey, you're putting words in my mouth! Wait for me, Rika-chan!" he shouted, digging his heels in and crouching, accelerating for the jump. As he neared the railing of the building, he smiled as he kicked his feet out, clearing the railing by a few feet, "I'm going to get you!" he shouted at Rika, who headed towards a school that had its own clock tower.

* * *

Glancing back him as they flew over the building's rooftops, she could definitely see why her uncle referred to him as the previous Wind King. He looked to be so free as he flew. As if he had nothing to weigh him down. The wind itself seemed to support him, and by mere association and distance, herself as well. She let a giggle pass her lips. This was why, the reason that she loved Flying, and by association, ATs. The feeling of the world beneath you. The wind grasping at you, unable to keep you from doing what you wanted. She let loose, adding even more pressure to the bottom of her ATs, going faster than she usually would when riding casually. She felt freer… more carefree with Naruto, even more so than she ever did with Sora. Definitely more than Kilik or the other members of Sleeping Forest, or anyone else she knew other than her parents. And even then, it was a completely different feeling than that.

She thought to herself, pondering the feelings she had,_ 'It feels like I'm unchained, like I don't have to worry about things so much.'_ She overshot the building she was aiming for, before the wind itself seemed to pick up, allowing her to glide a bit before she landed on an apartment rooftop.

'_Does this mean something?'_ she asked herself, a small frown present on her beautiful face, as she swerved, going around the laundry that was left out to dry. She didn't know, but she was going to keep it with her as long as she could.

She turned a 180, facing back at Naruto as he landed, both bearing a smile at the exhilaration, the feeling that ATs provided. Seeing the smile light up his face, she thought to herself, _'I… I hope it does.'_ She returned a smile to the blonde.

Then his eyes widened, and he made to shout something. What it was, she couldn't hear over the loud roar of the wind in her ears.

* * *

"She is beautiful… very much so." Naruto told himself as he grinned, following Rika. And her outfit, consisting of a Black trench-coat over a red leotard and a matching left pant leg, only added to the attraction he felt towards the redhead. He just had to ask himself something, as he ground the railing, his front wheels on the right side of the rail and his left pushing into it from the right, _'Why only one leg though? Doesn't she get cold or something?'_

Deciding that those thoughts could wait till later, he put them on the back burner and went back to the matter at hand. Catching up to her. He wasn't one for losing after all.

Nearing the end of the railing, he kicked off once more, jumping over the slight chasm that was between the two adjacent buildings. _'So, how to catch up…'_ he thought to himself, as he spotted her a building ahead, before he grinned to himself.

Speeding up as he headed for the right side, he jumped off, catching the following building's corner with his left hand, which allowed him to place his ATs on the wall. Allowing momentum to carry him, he dug his heels in, and gathered Kan on his feet for good measure, using it's expanding properties to add even more pressure to the 'gas pedal,' as it were. The pressure causing his ATs to go into overdrive, spinning him upwards and diagonally. _'Spinning Wallride!'_ he called out mentally, as he spun faster, the circular motions pushing him towards the wall, allowing him to continue the movement both onto the wall and upwards. Coming to the end of the side of the building, he adjusted his right leg slightly, jumping off and leading with it.

"Fuck YEAH! Spinning Wallride 1080 to Twister Special!" he yelled, unable to help but call out his move as he shot himself over the following two buildings, his earlier spinning causing him to end up upside down, looking 'up' at the streets below. Taking a second to look at the vehicles below, he caught sight of a flagpole jutting out from the coming building. Readying himself, he stretched his arms out, catching the pole with both hands and swinging himself towards the building in front of him. His momentum allowed him to throw himself off the pole, throwing him over the gap between the two buildings.

He landed upright looking around and catching sight of Rika who swerved around the hanging laundry. He took off after her, turning the corner himself as he smiled, exhilarated, loving the feeling of moving like this once again. _'It's better than what we felt in the Tower. It's not artificial here.'_ He thought to himself, referring to the places they rode their ATs in while in the tower, as he smiled widely at Rika, who returned it.

As he looked at her he noticed a door opening behind her from the side. _'Shit!'_ he declared mentally, before shouting, "Rika-chan! Get out of there!"

Seeing that she couldn't hear him, he crouched even lower, throwing himself forwards and adding Kan to the bottoms of his feet, moving at a rate even faster than he'd just gone a few minutes ago. He sped up, grabbing her by the waist with his left arm and shooting past the opening door, which revealed an elderly woman with a laundry basket who dropped it at the sight of a blonde boy tackling a red-haired girl and carrying her off.

* * *

Surprised at not only the fact that Naruto had picked her up, but at the speed at which he had come in, Rika caught sight of the door that opened as he grabbed her, which showed what he was worried about. Feeling the weightlessness that usually accompanied a jump or a fall, she turned back to the blonde that had saved her, still holding her with his arm.

"Why?" she whispered, making him turn towards her with a stare that made her insides squirm. "Why did you do that when you could have been injured? So soon after waking up?" she continued asking, wanting to know the answer, with a whisper that was all too audible to the both of them. The winds raged around them, as if they were in the middle of a hurricane, the eye of the storm.

He gulped, staring at her green eyes, "I… don't know." He replied, not really knowing why. "I just felt…" he continued, "like I had to do it… like there was no need for reason, because you're… you."

She heard his answer as she gazed at his own blue eyes, illuminated by the lights of the city. _'So much like the night sky... filled with stars.'_ she thought to herself, as she felt her cheeks warm up at his admission.

He suddenly grabbed her legs with his right arm, causing her to grab hold of his neck in response as he ended up carrying her with his arms in a bridal carry, instead of just holding her by her waist.

The feeling of weightlessness ended as they landed right beside a greenhouse on top of another apartment complex, Naruto automatically bending his knees just enough in order to not sustain any injuries, forgetting that he had to adjust for carrying not only his backpack, but the girl he held in his arms. The miscalculation causing them to tumble, ending up with him on top of her, his arms splayed out beside her head in a late attempt to stop himself from falling.

They stared at each other, not moving, breathing heavily from the adrenaline rush they'd received.

* * *

Naruto yelled out in his head,_ 'Move, dammit! Move it, Naruto!'_ but instead, he just gazed upon her.

The way her red hair framed her face and fanned out behind her, making her look like a goddess.

He saw the way her lips parted as she took air into her lungs.

Watching as her breathing made her chest move up and down, as if gesturing for him to keep his eyes there.

The way she felt beneath him, causing his blood to quicken, moving towards places he'd rather have them not reach at the moment.

Her beauty mark, right below the corner of her left eye, which drew attention towards her Green eyes.

He saw the way her eyes peered back at him. At his own eyes, as if they were daring him to make a move.

And so he did, lowering lowered his face towards her own, staying just out of reach. Waiting for her complete it, the kiss that a part of him wanted to happen and would, if she wished to.

* * *

She felt as if she was merely a spectator, like someone had taken over her body, ever since his straightforward answer to her question.

She watched as they tumbled after his landing, and smiled slightly, especially at the position they ended up in. With his legs intertwined with her's and his arms beside her head.

She focused on his hair, which fell into a curtain that surrounded their heads, and moved next to look upon his face and the whisker marks which looked so cute and hot at the same time.

She saw the way he stared at her, how his deep blue eyes roamed over her, making her want to hide yet show herself at the same time.

She felt his increasing arousal which revealed his physical wants which amplified what his eyes were conveying, the feelings he associated with her despite knowing her for only a few hours.

She watched as he lowered his face towards hers, his eyes half-lidded, how the deep blue of his irises overtook the white.

She closed her own eyes… waiting for the kiss she knew was coming, and was waiting for… despite their very brief time together.

After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and saw him start to pull away, and she realized that he had waited for her decision.

That he didn't expect anything from her, except what she wanted. _'That's more than anyone's really given me…'_ she told herself, as she smiled at his gesture.

She whispered to him, lifting her hands to his cheeks and rubbed them with her thumbs, causing him to stop pulling away.

"Thank you," she said, their eyes once again gazing into each other's depths. He immediately tried to protest, before she interrupted him.

"Thank you…" she whispered, as she reached up with her arms, pulling his face down to her's, drawing him into a soft, sensual kiss as she finished her sentence mentally, '…_for being such a gentleman.'_

It wasn't hungry like the kisses she shared with Sora. Nor were they rushed, like with Kiliks. It held not only small tinges of those feelings, but a myriad of other feelings as well… it felt complete.

It just was. And she couldn't explain it, '_and it's perfect'_ she thought to herself, drawing him deeper and pulling him down onto her, as he slowly let himself go, giving into the kiss.

'_Thank you,'_ she thought once again, as she deepened their kiss, _'…for making me… feel this way.'_

* * *

After a while, Naruto lifted himself off of Rika, receiving a pout from her which he tried to ignore as he coughed into his hand and looked away.

"I'm sorry…" he choked, not wanting to say the words, "I… I didn't mean to pressure you into anything." He said, bowing to her, as he got up continued, not noticing her movements as she propped herself up with her arms to watch him.

"We… we just met, and I mean. I do like you. Loads." he took a deep breath, "A lot… actually." He chuckled, trying to calm himself, "But… I was in a coma! For eleven years." He gestured, throwing his arms out, as he faced away from her. "I mean, I'm not really eight, but I'm not really sixteen either, despite what my brother, Kilik, and them had told me."

He nodded to himself, his arms crossed in front of him, ignoring the small smile that appeared on her lips at his posture, "Even though I wasn't really awake, I was still alive, in a way. Hmm, what I mean is… I was able to hear people, to sense them. So I learned about things that happened around me and stuff like that. And as I lay there at night, I would go to this other place where I was with my parents." He paused as he put his hands on his hips, and shook his head as he took another deep breath. "I knew they were dead. But they taught me, cared for me and I lived my life there. So I mean, was I dead or not? Am I really here or not? I'm sorry, but I wanted it to happen, so blame me if anything…" He stopped, feeling arms wrap around his chest and a weight settle onto his back. "Ri-Rika-chan?" he asked, his being surprised at her actions causing his arms fall limp.

She nuzzled onto the back of his neck, before whispering to him, "It's fine. In fact," she giggled, "I think you should lay all the blame on me for what happened."

"What? No!" he replied, trying to turn around to face her but was stopped by both her arms and her own ATs, which trapped any movement from his own.

"Oh, so you're not saying you're attracted to me?"

"N-no! Of course not! I mean, I am, but what I was trying to say-…"

"Let me finish." She pleaded, not wanting him to face her just yet. "It's my fault that I wasn't really paying attention." she gulped, swallowing the saliva that had built up in her mouth from her nervousness. "I've recently been having trouble with my feelings." She shook her head, whipping her voluminous red hair around them, "It's like… how do you say this… Ever since I met you in that room. I felt like there was a connection there, like there was something between us that had been there forever, even though we've always known each other for a few hours." she tightened the hold she had around his chest, "And the weird part is, right now… I'm not even sure if I'm going out with Sora, or if I'm not."

Her statement caught Naruto off-guard, who didn't know anything about that, "Sora… as in, black-haired, cheeky Sora?"

She nodded at his guess, "Yeah… sure, we've kissed a couple of times but he's never proceeded much further than that, unless you count him being his usual perverted self counts as coming onto me." She ranted, letting him go as she waved her arms around in emphasis.

'_Am I doing something wrong…? When I was kissing her? Was I taking the woman who seems to be Sora's girlfriend?'_ he asked himself as he turned around and looked her over which made him painfully aware how he shouldn't have suspected that she wasn't with anyone.

She folded her arms under her breasts, unintentionally pushing them upwards and drawing his gaze despite his introspection. Unaware of his thoughts and his wayward gaze, she continued, "Usually Sora, just out of the blue, he comes around and kisses me. I mean, I like the guy, and he's okay. But I told him that if he doesn't change… then I won't even consider him."

"So… you're his Girlfriend?" Naruto ventured, not wanting to really know the answer.

"NO!" She exclaimed, "I mean, I try to keep my guard around him, but I'm not even ready for whenever he pulls it off. I don't even know what's or when it's going to happen most times. I mean, the first time… he comes in, tells me he likes me. Then he kisses me while I was still kind of dazed, gropes me and then leaves! I mean, I didn't really intend to kiss him back, but I just went with the moment!" she declared.

'_The moment?' _he thought to himself, as his eyes looked down as he looked back at what they were just doing, trying to find an answer, _'Was it just the thing to do in that moment?'_

Before he could go farther, she shouted, exclaiming, "And then there's that brother of yours!" as she turned around and surprised him with her actions as she pointed violently at him, jabbing her forefinger into his chest.

"Kilik?" he asked, knowing that Spitfire wouldn't do anything stupid like cheating on his girlfriend… right?

"Yeah, Kilik. Two days ago, like Sora… he comes around and kisses me. I wasn't even… expecting something like that! You know, they're actually more twin-like than they are compared to their own twins. I mean, exactly like Sora, Kilik comes in. Tells me he likes me. Then he kisses me while I was still kind of dazed and then dances around with my somewhat limp body and then leaves! Exactly like Sora! I mean, that time, he danced but didn't grope. But I didn't even respond to him. It was just… kind him forcing his mouth onto mine." She shuddered at her memory, not liking the way Kilik kissed. "It was some spur of the moment thing! I mean is that the way you Gravity Children try to pick up chicks or something!" she hissed, clenching her hands.

'_Moment… is that all I am? The guy you're with at the moment? Is that what I am…? Just another guy that just wants to pick up "chicks"?'_ he asked himself, looking down at his hands.

Rika rubbed her forehead with her hand to ease her tension before she turned to him, only to notice his downcast look. Suddenly, she remembered what she had said in her last statement and she moved closer, "I'm sorry, don't take what I said the wrong way," she pleaded. "I will admit that I kind of went with the moment earlier, but…" She whispered to him as she pulled his face upwards with her hands to look at his face. "But I genuinely felt something for you, despite only knowing you for a short time. I'd actually wanted to try kissing you when I saw you for the first time," she licked her lips, moistening them and drawing his attention, which he shot back to her eyes immediately.

"You know, for me, it's more than just a moment of passion, of heat… there's promise that I felt when I kissed you. Because I really feel something for the person with me! It feels like… it feels like it could grow into so much more… and be longer than a single time, a second or minute of kissing. And unlike them… with you, I don't even have to be in contact with them to feel it." She whispered, rubbing his whisker marks with her thumbs, as she looked into his eyes. "It just intensifies what I feel just from being in your presence…"

* * *

Naruto locked his gaze onto her's, wanting to see whether or not she was telling the truth. Seeing nothing that he attributed to lying, he pulled his hands up and drew her hands from his face as he continued staring into her eyes. "I'm also in the same boat as you." He chuckled softly, smiling slightly at her, "To… summarize it, I'm going to have to find what I really feel about things. I'm still trying to find a balance," he said, getting a confused look from Rika, "Like I said earlier… my mind right now, seems to be both eight and nineteen. I'm more controlled, at least, I hope I am… but I'm more impulsive, if what happened earlier was any indication." He shrugged, "It's funny, because it kind of gives me an 'average age.' I guess you could consider me my actual body's age… sixteen." He declared, thrusting his chin out in an attempt to alleviate the tension just a bit, which caused her to giggle.

"But know this." he said, pulling her arms and drawing her into a hug, and whispering into her ear, "Like you…I feel something with you. And it's more than attraction, something deeper. And I hope that it grows into something more as well." He drew back from the hug after he finished. "How about… once we both get ourselves straightened out… at least about how we feel about stuff, we go on a date? I don't know where to go or what to do, but like my first kiss, I hope it's with you."

Tearing up at what he said, Rika pulled him back to her once again and whispered something to him before she gave him a small peck on the lips and rushed off before yelling for him to meet her at the top of the school's clock-tower.

Naruto laughed happily to himself as he moved towards his bag. Making sure everything was still there and that nothing was too badly damaged, he quickly put it on before he chased off after her with her whispered words still on his mind.

'_If that means that you're asking for a chance to be my boyfriend in the future… then my answer is yes. And I will wait for you until then.'_

* * *

"Hey, Kilik… are you alright?" A pink-haired girl asked her twin, who was standing next to her and facing towards the building their eldest brother was on.

Kilik just grunted, staring at the figures of his brother and his crush. "Yeah. Just… peachy." He grumbled, kicking at the wall beside him and demolishing it as he turned away from his twin sister. "I'll be going now. Keep an eye on them, will you?" He asked, not even waiting for an answer before he rushed off.

Simca just stared at Kilik's back as he left, before turning back towards the School's Clock-tower. "Aww man, Naruto-niichan…" she complained as she looked at them, "You don't know what you've just done, have you? Heehee, your first kiss, and not only is she the unofficial girlfriend of Sora's, but she's the one that Kilik's liked for ages... the one that he was planning on dancing with again."

Thinking over her last statement, she grumbled, "I know one thing though… if her actions are any indication... Sora will be pissed now that Rika-chan won't be accepting his advances anymore." Shrugging, she shadowed them, as they continued hopping across the rooftops, Stopping every once in a while if she thought she might be spotted.

"Hopefully, Kilik won't be taking whatever he's planning too far because of this." She told herself, unsure of what Kilik would do as part of his plans to restrict people from getting the Sky Regalia.

To be honest, he was the only real one that didn't know the actual reason they made The Sleeping Forest, thinking that He and Sora had a partnership. In all actuality, Sora had come up to each of them beforehand, telling them the reason he was going to make the group. And that they weren't supposed to tell Kilik anything. Kilik was truly her twin, though, able to see that something was bothering her even though he didn't push too hard for information. She'd broken down a month ago, when she heard of Sora's plans to take the regalia because of the news that the Trophaeum Tower was closing down. She told him so that he wouldn't confront everyone once he found out what they were going to do. She never told him that they all knew. And with that omitted fact, she couldn't help but think that he would confront him in front of everybody about protecting the Regalia.

But even though they were twins, she didn't know how Kilik could think like that… restricting the people's chance and ability to Fly. Sure, that was part of their motto, but so far they were only keeping other people out. The fact that Sora just wanted to release everyone from their chains, and allow them to roam the sky… she couldn't see how it was so bad. She tried to break it to Kilik easily and was glad that he looked like he took it fine… but compounded with his apparently unrequited feelings from Rika, as well as the thought of the 'betrayal' that she was sure he was still harboring… she didn't know what he would do now. She truly hoped that he wouldn't confront the whole group. She couldn't handle it if she lost him, or any of her friends.

Seeing them approach the Higachu Highschool's Clock-tower, she stopped following them. It was Rika's territory, after all. As she headed home towards the apartment complex she shared with Spitfire and Ine, Simca whispered to the wind, "See you soon, Naruto-niichan. Hope it goes well for you."

She tried focused on something else, only coming up with more things related to the Tower. They'd tried stopping it, actually, from closing. They had Ine, Rune and her use the Pledge Regalia in an attempt to stop it. It hadn't done anything, but allowed for the Tower to open every Four years after it opened the Next Time instead of just shutting down considering they didn't know the codes for Entry.

Screaming in frustration at the way her thoughts were travelling, she made her way past the Glam Slum (?), the AT store run by the old man and his assistant, waving to them happily as she passed.

* * *

**- Noyamano Household -**

_**November 17, 2000 : 8:41 A.M. – Next Day.**_

Naruto woke up just in time for the sun to shine through the small window of the room he was given. "Fuck…" he muttered to himself as he blocked out the Sun's rays with his right arm.

Deciding to check in on his mental occupant, before doing anything, he called out, _'Morning, Baxter…'_

'_**Good Morning, kit.'**_

'_You going to refer to me by anything else?'_

'_**I'm sorry, kit, but I was left with the instructions that I was only to mention you as only kit or Naruto. I, myself, prefer the term "kit." So, no.'**_

'_Anything you want to tell me?'_

'_**No. Not at the moment. There isn't anything of great importance.'**_

'_Alright… just tell me if there's something, okay? Just in case though, is there a time I shouldn't try to contact you?'_

'_**As of now… no. I am merely 'running' in the background. I only come forth should there be a need for me to explain something, which would usually be during a dire situation or if you call to me specifically. So, unless there is something happening of great importance, I won't be up and running while you're out of it.' **_

Grumbling, Naruto tried to get up, only to be held down by a weight on his stomach. Deciding to risk harming his eyes with the Sun's rays, he noticed a head of pink hair. _'Simca?'_ he asked himself, before mentally shaking his head, _'Nah her hair's too short and she's too young to be Simca. So, is this Mikan?'_

Poking the girl in the side, he tried to get her to move off of him only to have her hug him tighter around the waist. He grumbled, trying to get her off of him, before he heard a click and bright flash that blinded him for the second time in a minute. "Gah! Who is that?" he shouted, blocking his eyes with his arms.

Hearing a familiar laugh coming from the direction of the flash, he tilted his head to the sound, keeping his eyes closed. "Rika-chan, is that you?"

"How'd you know?"

"Oh… the laugh, I guess. I recognized your voice." He said, daring to open his eyes, only to catch a sight that took his breath away. Rika stood there, with a camera in her hands as the morning sun framed her figure, the sunlight shining through her red hair, making them look more vibrant. She was wearing an orange long-sleeved button up shirt over a white shirt and jeans,

Before he could say anything, he heard a small squeal from the person attached to his waist, "Naruto-Niichan! You're awake! And you're here! Really Awake!" Looking down, he saw the teary blue-gray eyes of his youngest sibling and couldn't resist messing up her short pink her. "Ahh! Stop that!" she yelled, jumping off of him as she wiped the tears away from her face with the back of her hand.

"Hey, you don't have to cry, I'm here now." He said gently, trying to stop her from crying any more as he got up and pulled his sister into a hug. He turned to Rika, "Umm, so, where is the rest of your family?"

She merely shook his head at his question, "To be honest, my parents aren't around much. They're actually overseas workers in the United States. They usually just send money back here to get us enough to get by. Shiraume is away right now, she's at the hospital that Ine works at to make sure that she's allright. Ringo and Ikki are off at school. And Mikan here decided that she wanted to stay here, once she recognized you."

"She recognized me?" he asked, knowing that he never met her or saw her before, even in the afterlife.

"Yeah, you see, Uncle Inari had brought them all, 'them' meaning your siblings, to you once. She recognized those marks on your cheeks as well as your hair." She said, blushing at the mention of his hair, which he completely missed as he was looking down at Mikan.

"Oh, I see." He said, "Ahh, so you're the one who takes care of them?" he asked as he released Mikan, before realizing that his shirt was somewhat damp and that he was still wearing the same set of clothes he'd gotten from his uncle's lab. "Actually, do you think there's some place where I can get clothes?" he asked nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Hehe… I just realized that this was the only set of clothes I grabbed from there."

Scoffing, she rolled her eyes and turned around, "Fine… we'll go shopping later after breakfast. I'll get you a shirt to wear from my dad's closet for later. We'll meet you downstairs after you get a bit cleaned up. Bathroom's down the hallway, last door on the left, across the stairs." Nodding, he turned to Mikan, who was looking up at him with an amazed look in her eyes. "Hmm? What is it, something on my face?" he asked, scratching his cheek and smiling at her.

Shaking her head, throwing her pink tresses around, she replied, "You're the first guy Rika-neechan isn't mad at all the time." Taking a thinking pose similar to his own, her left with her hand right in front of her mouth and her right arm across her chest, supporting her left while sitting down on the floor. "Hrmmm."

"Huh? What is it, Mikan-chan? Is something wrong with that?" he asked, before she jumped up and pointed at him.

"I know what it is!" she yelled.

"Oh? What is it?" he asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest and raising his right eyebrow at her.

"You must be a non-perverted guy!" she said, ignoring her brother's dumbfounded expression.

"Hu-huh?" he asked, stunned from her guess and losing his pose.

"Yeah. That must be it." She nodded to herself, crossing her own arms in front of her chest like her brother. "You're not like the other guys. She usually tells us that guys are bad."

"Oh. Really?"

"Mmhmm." She nodded eagerly, "She said that whenever a guy is being perverted, we should beat them up! Like Sora-Teme!"

"A… Right." He said nervously… _'What the hell is she teaching them?'_ he asked himself mentally. Shaking his head to ward away any attempt of deciphering the female thought processes from his mind, he peered down at Mikan, trying to change the subject. "Hey, what do you guys eat for breakfast?"

Seeing her eyes light up in a way he'd seen in the mirror multiple times in Konoha even before his Sealing… _'It's ramen, isn't it?'_ he asked himself, before she jumped up hugged him.

"It's ramen! The best food ever!" she yelled happily, hugging him tighter. Suddenly looking very meek, she whispered to him, her eyes searching his own, "You like ramen, don't you? Naruto-niichan?"

'_Well… shit.'_ Naruto thought to himself, wondering why his family seemed to be obsessed with ramen. Surely Spitfire couldn't like it. He probably didn't think it was cool or something.

* * *

"Don't worry, Ramen-Chan… You're only more important than Ine-teme, aren't you?" Spitfire crooned to his empty bowl of eXtra Large Ramen. Suddenly, he felt the urge to scratch the edge of his nose, he ignored it. Cool guys like him didn't get urges to sneeze when people talked to them. "Now, Ramen-chan, I'm going to keep you safe. Because someone like Ine can't handle you. You're the only one for me, Ramen-chan!" he declared to his bowl, ignorant of the fact that there was a fuming Ine outside the door that was going to release him from his captivity before she heard his words to his 'precious.'

'_What the hell is it with him and his ramen?'_ Ine thought to herself, as she turned away from Spitfire's "jail" and headed out for breakfast.

Suddenly, the bowl's edge chipped, causing Spitfire to curse. "Blasphemers!" pausing as if hearing something, he rubbed the side of his ramen bowl and whispered to it, "Someone must be disputing your awesomeness, aren't they… Ramen-chan."

* * *

Naruto turned his meandering thoughts back to the matter at hand and looked down at the face of his youngest sister who seemed to be tearing up at the absence of an answer. "Yo-you don't like ramen?" she sniffed, not wanting to hear he didn't.

"Oh nononono." He said quickly, "I love ramen. In fact, I think it's food from the gods." He declared, kneeling down and hugging her. Patting her back so that she wouldn't cry, he asked, "Okay… you okay now?"

Nodding, she broke away from him and asked. "Naruto-niichan… do you want me to make you some?"

"Yeah. I want to see how good the ramen you cook is, okay?" he answered, causing her to run down the hallway.

"Okay, Naruto-niichan! I'll make three for you, okay?" she yelled, not even waiting for an answer.

Chuckling at her actions, which reminded him of herself when he was young, he made his way down the hallway and heard Mikan's attempts at getting Rika to let her eat ramen for breakfast. Shutting the door, he turned to the mirror and took a longer look at himself because he hadn't had a real chance to do so yesterday. He peered at the whisker-marks first. Although they were similar to the ones he'd had in Konoha, the ones he had now were darker but he only had two of them instead of three. Dragging his whiskers along them, he shivered a bit. _'So… they're still pretty sensitive.'_ He mentally marked down, remembering what had happened when Rika had brushed them last night and smiled at the memory. Moving on, he turned his attention to his eyes, which were a darker blue than what he had in Konoha and back in the Tower before the incident. Despite the darker color, they still seemed retain their clarity.

He turned his attention to his hair, which was longer than he liked. Moving his hands through it, he groaned. _'Baxter,' _he called out, _'Did he really have to change my hair here as well? I mean, the whisker marks are… kind of okay, I guess, having them since I was born in the other world. But my hair?"_

'_**Kyuubi-sama had told me that yes, the whisker marks and the hair was necessary.' **_His tenant answered.

'_Necessary. Really?'_ Naruto asked skeptically as he judged the length of his hair and how short he should get it cut.

'_**Yes. He said that "Kit needs a way to draw his vixen in, or vixens, actually. Not that he needs anything like that, but this will surely give him a boost in that department."**_ _**Quote and Unquote. If that is all?'**_ Baxter asked, wanting to rest some more. '_**Just because I'm supposed to help doesn't mean I have to be there 24/7.'**_

Rolling his eyes at the laziness of his new tenant, Naruto asked, _'Anything else that's different, physically?'_

Taking out a checklist, Baxter called out _**'Well, we've already gone over your dual affinities. And, in addition to that, we've gone over the fact that you still have a regeneration rate, albeit slower than that of "Naruto's" original body. All we really have to go over are your abilities as a Gravity Child and working on the way Kan could be used as a substitute for Chakra. As for Gravity Child abilities, I would be the wrong person to ask. And for the implementation of your "jutsu," we'll have to wait until you have time to devote to it.'**_

'_Alright, thanks… I'll try to avoid calling you if I don't need you in the future.'_ He told Baxter, hearing the clone grumble before their connection was cut. _'He's still a lot like Kyuubi though. This guy like his sleep a lot more though.'_ He remarked before he proceeded to wash his face. Checking his breath, he wondered why it didn't stink too much other than the usual morning breath, he decided to attribute it to the hospital's nurses merely taking care of him. Remembering what happened last night, he prayed. _'Hopefully, Rika didn't smell it, or it wasn't even present last night.'_

Using some mouthwash he found in the drawer, he left the bathroom and made his way downstairs. Hopefully the day would get better, not that it wasn't great already.

* * *

**- Noyamano Household –**

_**November 17, 2000 : 4:38 P.M. – Few hours later.**_

Naruto sighed, dropping himself onto their couch. _'What the heck…'_ he cried out mentally, bemoaning his aching muscles. _'I expected to be outlasted by Rika, but Mikan?' _He asked himself incredulously.

Their shopping trip had been long, and despite his protests that they not get him too much because it wasn't his money, he was shot down due to the fact that he didn't have any. Pouting at them as they laughed at him good-naturedly, they proceeded to drag him around the malls. They'd gone to several, with the first one near the hospital and the Tower to check on Shiraume. Assured by Ine that she was all right, they'd given their regards to Spitfire, not noticing the glint in her eyes at the mention of her wayward boyfriend's name. After that, they'd had lunch at a fast food place, followed by even more shopping.

Naruto groaned, opening his eyes, only to see girls staring at him. "What is it?" he asked, covering his mouth as he yawned. Noticing a third girl, he got up and walked to meet her, "You must be Ringo." He said, smiling as he held out his hand.

"Yeah. Noyamano Ringo." She said happily, causing Naruto to look at Rika with a raised eyebrow from her last name.

"I'll tell you later." She whispered to him, before she asked her sisters, "Do you guys want to go out and practice your ATs now?" Receiving nods in the affirmative and a questioning look from Naruto, she said, "Go get your ATs. I have to ask Naruto-kun something, okay?" Seeing them leave to get their ATs, she turned back to him. "Yes. I'm teaching them, got a problem with that?"

"No! Of course not, Rika-chan! I'm the one who taught Simca, Kilik and Sora you know?" He said, waving his hands in front of him to diffuse anything that might increase any chances him getting hurt. "I'm just wondering why you guys aren't waiting for Ikki." He said, shrugging.

"Ahh. That." She laughed nervously, "Well, you see… when Uncle Inari left Itsuki with us… he just requested two things."

Realizing where she was going, he nodded, "I see. Go on."

"The first one was that he didn't want Ikki to know about ATs… at least not from us. I don't get it. I mean, he would let my sisters ride ATs but his own son?" she shook her head in disbelief. "And the other was that he wanted Itsuki to keep his surname. I mean, it was weird. Out of all the things, he requested his son to be kept away from anything in the house related to ATs, and to keep the last name."

Patting her on the shoulder, he smiled at her, "I think I understand where he's coming from, though. He doesn't want his son to be dragged into any power struggles or whatnot that would happen. And getting him introduced into ATs, especially this early, would only jeopardize his son. I understand letting me and my siblings go and do this, especially since we were part of the Gravity Children project. But as far as I know, Ikki isn't one, right?" he asked, receiving a nodded from Rika. "So it might just be because he doesn't want his son to be hurt. Actually, I think it might be that exactly." He said, punching his right fist into his left, "He doesn't want Ikki to ride ATs at least until he searched for it himself, or something. I mean, everyone has the dream to fly, right?" not waiting for her to answer, he continued, "I mean, if Ikki searches for ways to fly or something, he'll eventually end up getting ATs when he's older. And as for the last name… that's kind of self-explanatory." Hearing the girls' rushed footsteps on the upstairs hallway, he patted her shoulder as he moved to bring his bags to his room. "I'll bring my stuff to the room. I'll join you because I need to practice and get into shape, anyways."

Stopping at the stairs, he called back to her, "We'll talk later, right?"

Nodding, Rika replied, "Right."

Hearing Mikan ask Naruto if he was coming, and the subsequent squeal at his reply, she smiled to herself. "Right. There's time enough for stuff like that later."

* * *

Mikan grinned happily as she ground on the railing that was in the park that they practiced their ATs at. A few months ago, Rika-neechan had decided that they would practice at a park near the school because they wanted to avoid having Ikki spot them.

She was really happy because not only was she able to skip school today, but her big brother was finally awake. She couldn't even pretend to understand why he has sleeping so long, but she decided that if this was a dream, then she'd want it to last forever. Rika-nee was happy, and so was she. Even Ringo wasn't acting that shy. Naruto-nii was super cool, too. He said he would teach her some of his tricks once he got back into shape, because he said that he just woke up recently so he needed some exercise and stuff until he was good again. Hopefully it was soon, because even though he said he wasn't at his best, he was still awesome. Seeing the end of the railing, she readied herself for the jump over the monkey bars, when she heard Rika-nee call her.

Turning around, she felt, more than saw the shadow that passed over her. Stopping, she asked aloud, "What is it, Rika-nee?"

Rika stopped right beside her, followed by a lightly panting Ringo. "That's your Naruto-niichan, Mikan." She said, pointing at her aniki's form, which Mikan noticed was the shadow that had passed over her. He looked like he was carried by the wind, literally. He was able to do a longer and curvier jump than her one-chan was able to do. He was moving all over the place, leaping around with his long hair whipping around his face even though he had borrowed a hair band from her to try and keep it from going everywhere.

"Do you think he could teach me how to do that?" Mikan asked, amazed at how he moved. He wasn't quite as fast as Rika-nee, but he was able to move at her speed when he was moving through the air. She could move like that, she knew it… just maybe not as smooth as he made it. Sora had come in and tried teaching her how to ride the wind with her ATs, but his way was too different from the way she wanted to move so he stopped coming around when she got mad and Rika-nee made him leave. She wanted to use the wind like the way that her nii-chan was moving. Instead of forcefully pushing the wind around, like Sora did, she wanted to gather it around her and control it like the way her Naruto-nii was doing. Then she'll think about pushing it around.

Seeing Mikan's attention on the way Naruto rode the wind, Rika knelt down beside her, and whispered to Mikan, "I don't think he'll mind. He was the Wind King, you know?"

"The Wind King?" Mikan asked, staring at the figure that was had launched itself off the slide and was currently jumping over one of the trees on the opposite side, achieving air time due to the way he seemed to float on the wind. "You mean, like Sora?"

"Yeah," Rika answered, "apparently, your Naruto-nii was the first one. He was competing for the title of the Wind King with Sora even though he was teaching him. Uncle Inari said that it looked like Sora only got the title because your aniki was in a coma."

"Coma?" Ringo asked, as she stopped beside them, not knowing the word.

"He was sleeping for a long time, and he just woke up a little while ago." Mikan answered proudly, knowing what a coma was, before they were interrupted by a shout.

"Hey guys! How did I do?" Naruto yelled out from across the park, who looked like had barely enough energy to stand, let alone yell.

"Come on. Let's head over there before he continues and strains himself, okay?" Rika asked, taking Ringo's hand.

"OK."

* * *

Naruto panted heavily, the toll of actually trying to push himself past what he currently could do was heavier than he ever remembered being. Resting his hands on his knees, he was about to continue training, before he was approached by the Noyamano sisters. He frowned mentally, as he didn't really want to have Mikan take their last name despite liking Rika and Ringo. He didn't want to be stuck being the only Uzumaki-Namikaze after all. His other siblings probably took other last names at least, once they left the tower. He knew that Sora and his twin, Sora probably kept their names, the weirdos that they were. Wanting to confuse the hell out of everybody with their beady little eyes hidden behind their always half-lidded eyelids and their hats that always shadowed their faces with their fox-like grins… but he truly wanted to have his family together in a true, whole, sense. Moving his thoughts away from the direction they were taking, he straightened himself out and wiped his hair off of his face.

"What's wrong, guys?" he asked, taking a drink from one of the bottles of water they brought with them.

"Nothing, Naruto-nii." Mikan replied, skating around him and stopping after she reached his other side, fumbling with her blue windbreaker's hem. Naruto shot a questioning look at Rika.

"She just doesn't want to ask you to teach her to ride ATs outright." Rika translated, ignoring the cry of "No, don't!" from Mikan.

Bewildered, Naruto turned to Mikan, but you don't really want to learn from me do you?" he asked, scratching the back of his head, "I mean isn't she teaching you?"

Shaking her head rapidly, nearly losing the snow hat she had on, Mikan replied, "She is. But I want to learn to ride like you!"

"Oh? Like me?" Naruto asked teasingly, grinning at her, "What do you mean by that?"

"I want to use the wind like you." She said quietly, looking down at her feet, not wanting to see rejection in her big brother's eyes.

Pausing for a second, he turned to Rika, who was smiling and nodding at him. He then turned back and put his hands on Mikan's shoulders, making her look up at him. "You really want to, don't you?" seeing her nod happily with a small smile, he returned it, "Alright." Standing up, he clapped his hands together, staring down at her, "Since I'm relearning how to ride the wind myself, why don't we learn to ride together, okay?" he held out his hand to get a high-five out of her.

"Okay!" she yelled, happily, jumping up and smacking his hand with hers.

Deciding to put training on the back-burner, especially since he finally felt the strain of his exertions, he continued "But not today."

"What?" she yelled, pointing at him, "But you just said!"

"Ehh." he chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "I'm actually really tired now, and I don't think I'll be able to catch up with you right now. How about tomorrow?" turning to Rika, who was watching Ringo skate around the small jungle gym, he called out to her, "Tomorrow's okay, right?" Seeing her nod, he faced Mikan again, "Tomorrow is good."

"Yeah!"

Wanting to get a chance to talk to Rika, who had looked troubled ever since they came to the small park, he saw Ringo trying to make sharp turns, "Now go help Ringo out. She seems to be having some trouble, okay?" Not replying verbally, she nodded and ran off to help her sister.

Stretching, he made his way over to the woman he'd spent most of his time since returning with, "Hey, Rika-chan." He said, sitting down beside her on the bench, careful not to get any of his sweat near her.

"Hey." She said glumly, working at the problem that chipped away at her for most of the day.

"Something the matter?"

Shaking her head, she watched her younger sisters play around in the park. "Kind of." Seeing his pointed gaze that prodded at her to elaborate, she turned to watch the girls use the playground's merry-go-round to rapidly spin themselves around with their ATs propelling them faster than she'd usually let them. She sighed, deciding to tackle the issue she'd wanted to ask, but didn't want to wait for anymore, "Were you being serious last night?" she asked, staring at him.

Confused about what she was referring to, but then realizing that there was only thing she could probably be referring to, he replied, "Yes," taking her hand in both of his and rubbing the back of them with both of his thumbs and drawing her attention to them, he continued. "We'll work this out, I promise. And if there is one thing that Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto does above all else…"

"Is?" she prodded, looking from their hands to his eyes.

"…is that he keeps his promises." He finished, getting up and kissing the back of her hands as he stood up. "C'mon." Naruto said, pointing upwards at the darkening sky, "It's getting kind of late and we should head back. Besides," he grinned, pulling her up from her spot on the bench, "What is there to worry about? Nothing's going to happen."

Hearing a scream from the direction of the merry-go-round, he turned and was suddenly hit with a tremendous amount of pain that impacted his abdominal are. "UGH!" he gasped, falling over backwards from the pain, hitting his head on the bench that they were sitting on and quickly fell unconscious.

* * *

Coming to, he heard Mikan's voice, "Oh, look, he's getting up!"

"Yeah. Ehh…" he groaned, opening his eyes slowly, only to catch sight of a ceiling above him. "What the hell hit me?" he hissed, trying to sit up slowly due to the tenderness of the impacted area. He looked around and realized that he wasn't at the Noyamano household, before he could ask where they were, a small voice interrupted him.

"Umm, it was me." Ringo spoke up from somewhere to his left.

"Huh? What happened?" he asked, turning to her direction. Seeing her scared face, hiding behind Mikan, he grinned at her, "Aww, c'mon. Don't be scared of me." Trying to get up, he held back a wince from the pain, "The only time I'll be mad is if it was…" he paused, trying to find the right words as he sat himself up on the bench. _'How'd I get here?'_ he asked himself, before Mikan interrupted his thoughts.

"If it was really stupid, right? That's what Rika-nee usually says." Mikan piped up from beside Ringo.

"Yeah, if it's really stupid." He nodded in agreement, not knowing how else to put it. "If it's an accident though, it should be fine, as long as you make sure you don't do it again, okay?" Receiving nods and a relieved sigh from Ringo, he looked around at the room and noticed pictures of various people hanging out. Recognizing most of the people in the pictures, he asked Mikan and Ringo. "Hey, whose place is this? Where are we, anyway?"

"Umm, it's Ine-nee-chan's and Spitfire-nii-chan's place."

"Ine… Ine Makigami?" he asked, remembering the Nurse from yesterday.

"Uh huh. Here, we'll get her." They said in unison, rushing out of the room.

"Where's Rika-chan?" he called to them as he ran out.

"Aww, am I not enough for you, Maelstrom-kun?" a voice called out behind him. Jumping slightly and wincing from the pain, he turned around and saw Ine in an elaborate, form-fitting nurse's outfit, which was definitely more provocative than the one she wore when she was at the hospital.

"Ahh…" he began, unsure of what to say in retaliation, especially because of his chances of escaping any additional injuries, "Umm… no?" he asked, immediately covering his head with his hands and cowering.

"Hehehe. It's allright. I'm just teasing you." She replied, before her tone turned darker as she bent down and glared at him, "But were you implying something?"

Eyes trying to move away from the large amount of cleavage that were displayed in front of him, he wrenched his gaze away and closed his eyes, "N-no. Of course not." He stuttered, "Wh-why would I say something like that."

Suddenly in a lighter mood, she straightened up and told him, "Oh, no reason. Just making sure that I'm really irresistible, even though your brother might think otherwise."

"What'd he do?"

"He was cuddling his ramen bowl this morning and muttering about how I wasn't able to handle it, so I left him in the room you were in and locked it." She stated nonchalantly, "Which, by the way, I should bring you back to. Especially since you only woke up yesterday." She finished with a sweet-sounding yet very threatening voice.

"oh." He said in a small voice, unable to come up with anything. Gulping, he glanced at her, asking, "Ahh… so will I be going back there?"

Grumbling, she replied, "Despite it being protocol to keep you there… No. In fact, I encourage it."

"Huh, why?"

Shrugging, she took a small rectangle device out from somewhere, and told him, "Now, move over and lay back down on the couch, I have to check on your injury. Then I'll answer."

Doing as she asked, he lay down on the couch. "Okay. Now, why?"

"Well, I would think that being trapped in your mind and in a small room, one would want to be free to do as they wished." She asked, placing the device on his stomach, which emanated a small set of vibrations that were released in sync with a set of beeps that occurred every few seconds.

Noticing his shirt was gone, he looked up at her, "Hey, where's my shirt?"

"It was taken off so we could check on your injury." She said, pointing to the bruise that had formed from the collision. "Besides, it was… more than wet with your sweat and we couldn't risk you getting a cold, could we?"

"Huh… I guess so, yeah." Chancing another look around, he asked her once again, "Hey, is Rika-chan here?"

"Oh, Rika-chan, is it?" she asked, with a small smirk he didn't catch.

"Uhh… yeah." He said, wondering what she meant.

"You seem to be fixated on her, aren't you, Maelstrom-kun?" she teased, tapping the device every once in a while.

"Oh… really?" he asked, before realizing that she was implying. "Uh… does it seem like that, because I don't even want to cause her any trouble or anything…" he paused, looking at her face directly, "I'm not, am I?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really. She's not going out with anyone despite Sora's boasting, Maelstrom-kun." She said, stressing his name.

One of his concerns about courting Rika alleviated by Ine's comment, he said, "Stop calling me that, Ine. I get it, I remember you now." As he rolled his eyes. Deciding that he might as well compliment her to further his chances of living, he added, "You were the project director's daughter, right? You looked a lot different when I saw you yesterday, more beautiful than you were at that age. More than I would notice at that age, anyways, Ine-chan. So can you call me Naruto now?"

Rolling her eyes at him in reply, she slapped her hand onto the device, causing him to quickly sit up in reflex as she grabbed it. "Yeah, sure. I was wondering when you'd remember. I left enough clues." She sniffed suddenly, sounding teary, "I thought you forgot me!" she cried out, hugging his face into her chest.

"Gah! What the heck!" he mumbled through the cleavage.

"What is going on here?" a voice suddenly yelled out, one that he remembered instantly.

Shoving himself away from Ine, he ignored the pain from his movement and prostrated himself on the floor, "I'm sorry, Rika-chan!" he pleaded, "She just came and hugged me out of nowhere! I would never do something like that, you have to believe me!"

"Hmm..." he heard Rika hum, hearing her steps moving closer to him. "You didn't promise, so how could I know?" she asked, as she stopped in front of him.

Realizing his mistake, he hugged her legs, calling out, "Ahh, sorry! She really did hug me out of nowhere! I promise!" as he shut his eyes in preparation for the pain, only to hear laughter come from above him.

"Hahahahaha, you were right, Ine. That was fun." Rika giggled as her sisters walked into the room.

"If only Flame-kun was like that." Ine replied, before focusing on Naruto, "Sorry, Naruto-kun… I pulled Rika into it."

Pouting, Naruto pulled himself away from Rika's legs, settling himself against the side of the couch. "It's fine, but ugh… that was mean." He complained, rubbing his still sore stomach. "Couldn't you guys wait for me to be healed, at the very least?"

"Mmm… no." Ine pondered, "If you were fully healed, you wouldn't have the same expressions. Besides, I think Simca mentioned you teaching her how to tease people… was it true?" She grinned, hearing him mutter about annoying little sisters which, thankfully, neither Simca nor Mikan heard.

Ignoring him, she continued, "Too bad he's too fixated on ramen."

"Hey!" two voices called out simultaneously, Mikan's, who had run into the room to defend her food's honor. And the sixteen year old boy's in the elder female's company, "Ramen is the best!"

"Hahahaha, Ine, it seems like they like ramen just as much as he does." Rika laughed, having troubly breathing, "They're all family after all."

Shaking her head, Ine faced both Mikan and Naruto, "But do you two affectionately call your ramen bowls, Ramen-chan?" Seeing Mikan shake her head furiously and Naruto scratch his cheek and turn away to hide a blush, she let loose another laugh, "Really, Naruto-kun? You called a ramen bowl, Ramen-chan?" causing the other girls to laugh as well.

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he turned his face away from them, furiously trying to chase away his embarrassment, "He-hey! There was only one time!" he declared loudly, waving his arms in front of him to ward their laughter off, before a memory of his time in Konoha with his Ayame-neechan and Teuchi-ojisan.

* * *

**- Flashback – Ichiraku Ramen Stand, Konohagakure no Sato – **

_**October 10th, 157 AFK (After Founding of Konoha); 10:00 P.M.: Naruto, Age: 10**_

"Hey, Naru-chan!" Ayame greeted happily, bringing out a birthday cake they had made to replicate one of their larger ramen bowls that was Naruto's favorite.

"Wow! Is it for me?" Naruto asked, gazing at the cake and bowl which had frosting shaped like strands of noodles and the words 'Happy 10th Birthday, Naruto-kun' laid on it with frosting shaped like ramen-toppings.

"Yep!" Teuchi called out, bringing out two candles, a 1 and 0, and placed them on top of the cake. "Do you know what people do with their birthday candles, Naruto?" he asked as made sure they wouldn't fall over.

"N-no! I don't. What do they do!" he practically yelled out, which no one heard due to certain privacy and silencing seals that the elder Ichiraku had placed upon his shop and activated for this small occasion.

"Naru-chan… they grant wishes, you know!" she whispered as she rubbed his cheeks, causing him to blush and duck his head.

"Really?" he asked, his eyes wide, suddenly looking up and forgetting his embarrassment.

"Yes, Naruto-kun." Teuchi said, bringing forth some small paper plates, forks and a knife. "But remember, you can't tell anyone your wish, okay?"

"Wow. Okay." He said, preparing to blow the candles.

"No! Wait, Naru-chan!" Ayame giggled, pulling him away from the cake, "You have to wait for us to light the candles."

"Hehe." He said, blushing from his embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "Sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay. Now you know!" she said, giving him a hug.

"Why don't you give Naruto-kun your present, Ayame?" Teuchi asked his daughter.

"Sure. Let me get it." She answered, rushing off and returning with a package that had a familiar shape a few seconds later. Handing it to Naruto, she said, "Here, you open your presents before you blow the candles, 'kay?"

"'Kay." Was the reply as he opened the present. "Wow? Is this Ramen-chan?" he asked, lifting the present and showing it to the Ichirakus.

"Yeah, Naruto-kun. It's your favorite bowl. We decided to give it to you so you could use it at home." Pulling a small wrapped package out from behind the counter, he handed it to Naruto. "These are for you too."

Taking hold of the present, Naruto took the wrapping off it and asked in wonder, "For me?"

"Yes. Those chopsticks are for you. You could use them again and again so you don't need to keep getting new ones." Ayame said, pointing at the set of chopsticks. "And here, they have writing on them. Can you read it to us?"

" 'To our favorite blonde. Our number one customer and our family. Uzumaki Naruto.' " Naruto read, who started to cry at the words and wiped his tears away quickly. "Really?"

"Mmhmm," Teuchi hummed, lighting the candles and pushing the cake towards the ten year old. "Now. Remember, close your eyes, make a wish and then blow the candles out."

Looking up at the expectant faces of the people he considered family, he whispered, "But I don't need to anymore. I have all I wanted here."

Crying a little at his words, Ayame whispered back, "If you really have all you want, then you could make a new wish."

"So I could wish for-."

He began, only for Ayame to put her finger to his lips, "Shh, Naru-chan. Silently, okay?"

"But!"

"If you don't say it silently, it won't come true, you know." Teuchi added, whispering as well.

"Okay." Naruto said as he closed his eyes, trying to find something to wish for._ 'I wish… that Ramen-chan, Teuchi-ojisan and Ayame-neechan will always be here with me. I wish that they will be with me forever.'_

"Ready Naru-chan?" Ayame asked. Receiving a nod from him, she told him, "Make a wish."

He made his wish and blew out the candles before he received hugs from the Ichirakus and a whispered 'Happy Birthday,' to celebrate his tenth year of being alive.

**- Flashback End -**

* * *

**- Ine Makigami & Spitfire's Apartment – **

_**November 17, 2000 : 7:24 P.M.**_

Feeling himself tear up at the memory, he rubbed away the tears that were coming to his eyes despite his attempts to stem them. Hearing someone move closer to him, not realizing the hushed silence that came over the room, he shook his head furiously and tried to get them to move away, "Ahh! This is nothing! Just… something got my eyes." He tried laughing, only for it to come out as a strangled sob.

Feeling a pair of arms giving him a hug, he stiffened, before he heard the voice of the angel who spoke the words, "I'm sorry."

At those words, he broke down, crying into Rika's shoulder, finally realizing that he never really acknowledged his departure from Konoha. He knew he left it, never really focusing on the fact that he had left people that he cared about even during his reminiscing in the afterlife, especially since he was usually with his parents or the half that consisted of 'Maelstrom.' He was always paid more attention on the road that went forward. On the people that he could finally call family, the people that were his true biological family. On achieving his dream of flight and freedom that he had forgotten exactly who and what he had left behind, despite the few numbers that existed in Konoha. He wept for the people that he had left. His family in all but blood, whom he had forsaken and forgotten with only telling his Kyuubi-niisan to watch over them. For his home, the actual village itself, that he knew almost every nook and cranny of.

And it hit him… the exact reason his brother had left a portion of himself. The reason his mind had molded the mindscape into a replica Konoha and the reason he had made some very specific changes to his body despite them not being related to his life here. His nii-chan had left them… so he could have something of what he'd left behind.

At the realization, he cried harder into Rika's shoulder as he hugged her tighter, only to let her go a few minutes later as he cried himself to sleep.

Watching Naruto's sleeping form, which was bandaged around the waist, they closed the door behind them. Rika asked Ine softly as they walked down the hallway, "Do you know if he's going to be okay?"

Gesturing for Rika to follow her, who took a peek into the living room to find Mikan and Ringo sleeping on the pull out bed sofa, Ine headed towards her kitchen, pouring two cups of tea and handed one to her fellow Sleeping Forest member. She smiled, seeing Rika take it, "He's going to be all right. In fact, I'm surprised that's what triggered it."

Confused, Rika questioned her, blowing on the surface of her tea, trying to cool it down. "What do you mean?"

"I had expected something like that to happen." She stated in a matter-of-fact voice, instantly causing Rika to flare up in anger.

"What the hell do you mean?" she hissed, before she was stopped with a placating motion from Ine.

Sighing, Ine continued, "I had thought that his bout of unconsciousness yesterday hadn't been long enough." Taking a sip of her tea, she went on, "From what I found, his mental state is, for most of it, quite stable. Now, considering the fact that he was eight when he went into the coma, and not only his actual age being nineteen, but his physical age being sixteen…"

"He's still trying to sort it out." Rika whispered, staring into her cup of tea, "He said that… somehow, he lived through all of those years with his parents, who we know are dead. That he 'lived' while he was in a coma, that he grew up in some form of afterlife."

Ine thought it over, before agreeing, "That actually makes some sense. He's actually more mature than an actual eight year old would be, even as a Gravity Child. And if what Dr. Minami had written down in his notes that he left to me, his brain waves were functioning like a conscious person's was… like he was still living despite him being unconscious. But that's all speculation…" she sighed. "But back to the matter at hand. His mind probably was trying to rework itself to fit his newer personality. I'm no brain doctor, but I guess his reactions as an eight year old and his mental reactions were conflicting and it was overloading his brain too much."

"He said as much himself, yesterday." Looking up, she looked at Ine, "He told me that the best way to refer to his age would be his actual physical age, sixteen… is that right?" she asked, taking a sip of her tea.

Nodding, Ine replied, "Yeah. It would be the best. Give him some form of stability. But don't worry." Seeing Rika's confused look, she grinned, "I can see it in your eyes. You care for him. He'll be fine. He shouldn't have another breakdown from something like that again. If he does, it'll be something serious that causes it. Besides, he's not really eight anymore. He's way more mature than he was before. Now, I'd usually say he'll be up maybe a couple of days, but at the rate that his regeneration is moving at… he should be up tomorrow, maybe afternoon at the latest."

"Okay." Rika said, putting her now half-filled cup down on the counter.

"Now!" Ine exclaimed, surprising Rika. "Tell me what happened."

Confused, she asked, "What happened? You were there when it happened."

Rolling her eyes at the oblivious girl, "What happened between you." She pointed at Rika, "And Naruto-kun over there." She gestured behind her at the area where Naruto was sleeping.

Blushing, remembering what had happened the night previous, Rika denied it, "N-no! Nothing happened." Knowing that Rika was trying to hide something from her, Ine continued pestering her until Rika asked where Spitfire was, making Ine suddenly clam up and leave the apartment.

Shrugging at her fellow Queen's quick departure, knowing she and Spitfire always got into weird situations, she opened the door to the guest room and looked in, noticing the peaceful form of her… boyfriend.

She wasn't sure, after waking up this morning… if she really wanted to have Naruto as her boyfriend despite their mutual feelings. But his actions and reactions had spoken louder than any words.

He was passionate, funny, truthful and from what she'd seen… loyal to those he cared for, and she didn't doubt that he had many more sides to him that she would see if she stuck by him. He would do what he could to avoid being a pervert, unlike Sora, and he would work to be there for her unlike Kilik, who would probably plan to be there and not go through with it at the last moment. It was true that he probably wasn't the most educated, being newly awoken from the coma and all, but he was smart in his own way. He wouldn't overstep his bounds if he thought there were any. Those were the points she had thought out.

As for her more irrational reasons… he was well built, especially for one who had been sleeping for so long. He had this presence that made her happy, one which made her feel something special and was amplified when she was in contact with way the wind felt around him, which seemed to draw her in… and she gazed at his hair. His hair, which was surprisingly fur-like, she had fallen in love with it at first touch.

She had resisted touching it after the first time she felt it during their tumble on top of the apartment complex with the greenhouse. Waiting until he had fallen asleep, she had gone into the room she'd given him and moved her through his hair as he was sleeping. She was lucky that Mikan hadn't woken him up with her squeal, recognizing the sleeping form of her brother and ignoring that of her sister. She was glad that she wasn't caught by him because she didn't want to be caught doing something so intimate with him just yet.

And yet… after today's revelations, she didn't mind if she was. She was afraid of what might happen between her friends in The Sleeping Forest and her once they found out. Her eyes hardened as she realized what had been pushing her back, before they softened at the sight of the moonlight illuminating his face. Moving into the room and closing the door, she discarded her clothes, just leaving on her shirt and her panties. She got under the blankets with the man who had captured her heart.

It came down to one single, irrefutable fact. If anyone had a problem with her being happy… then they weren't her friends. It was as simple as that.

And as she put her arms around the blonde, she knew she couldn't think of any time she was happier for herself than when she was with Naruto.

As she drifted off into the realm of dreams, she had one last thought that intruded upon her, quoting the weird events that had occurred from being in Naruto's presence for merely a day.

'_Nothing's going to happen, huh, Naruto-kun...'_

_'It doesn't matter though. I'll deal with it.'_

* * *

_**- Chapter 7: End -**_

* * *

**- Post-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

So yeah... about the chapter, I'm sorry for going against my planned... plan of having some action in this story. It does have action, if you want to talk semantics or whatever, the emotional kind ;).

But yes, all I could keep on writing was fluffy stuff. It surprised me, to be honest. I've written out like 30k words of fluff these past few days. With the rest interspacing the time after the Sleeping Forest betrayal and Ikki's sojourn into the AT world... am I using Sojourn right there?

Anyways, that 6k I mentioned in the top part of the chapter was actually the beginning of the confrontation between Sleeping Forest and what would be the future Genesis. But, after looking at it, I couldn't add it onto this one despite my desire of having a twofer chapter. It just didn't fit the mood right. So once again, I apologize for the lack of action once again.

*Sighs* if this keeps up, I'll probably have to make this Romance or Drama in addition to Adventure like my Girlfriend suggested. Bah! I didn't expect to write something like that... not that I dislike them. I do read quite a few pieces of Romance/Drama. ;P

But parts of this chapter were actually written and edited by my girlfriend, who is currently out of state... :(

I wrote a few parts of Rika's thoughts and dialogue in relation to her feelings, but a larger bulk of it came from my Girlfriend. We were typing and editing those parts while chatting on the windows messenger thing, so I apologize if there are a couple of mistakes there in the transfer or implementation.

I actually proofread this story my self. I write it, I read it, I fix it. Pretty much all of it. Actually, 95% of it. I do bounce story ideas off my Girlfriend and my Brother, like the ones that are suggested in reviews. But ultimately it comes down to me sitting down and wearing the keys out on my keyboard.

So yes, if there is a chapter that would come out next week. The last week of November/first week of December... it may be a bit late and come out on the weekend like this one unlike my usual updates on the weekdays.

* * *

**BTW! Did anyone see the Air Gear OVA? IT'S FRIGGIN' EPIC!1! **

**It's the Ikki vs. Ringo Fight. And it Pwns! Kururu makes an appearance, as does Aeon, Mikan, and a couple other people. The Air Gear followers should know who else. :) **

**They also released the 'Episode 21.5' with Kogarasumaru Vs. Potemkin.**

**But to be honest, I love the Ikki vs. Ringo one. " Kuro no Hane to Nemuri no Mori -Break on the sky. " it was done by a different director/producer or whatever, so it follows the manga more, and Ikki doesn't have a whiny voice like in the series.**

**Watch it. You'll be amaze-ified.**

* * *

**'Till Next Time, with hopefully less happiness and more action...**

**Margulide**


	8. Ain't that a Ditch

**Disclaimer: I, do so honorably state, "I do not own the Naruto franchise nor the Air Gear Franchise… Which are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Oh! Great (_Ōgure Ito)_, respectively..." in my defense.**

'**_Thoughts.'_****/**_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

_"Conversations through a phone."_

**_"Amaterasu/Computer AIs."_**

**"Messages through electronics."**

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" /**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

* * *

**- Pre-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

**Well, here's the story, guys... a week and two days late. I was going to update it, like I stated in my profile for those who checked... but my notes and the un-cleaned chapters for Maelstrom Road, which was on my favorite flash-drive... well... the flash-drive would not show up on 'my computer' nor anyone else's, even on Mac-apples... so yeah... my 24k chapter, which i was splitting into two parts, is now only a ~14.5k chapter. I couldn't bring myself to rewrite the whole thing. I had some of it redone, added more stuff... but I couldn't do it all again from scratch. So the chapter and the content changed a bit from the original. *Sighs* ... at the very least, there is this chapter. Like I stated on my profile... the chapters had a bunch of 'everyday' stuff. Happenings in the Month after Naruto's 'awakening' and the 'Kilik Incident,' as it is referred to in canon. **

**Thanks for reading this, **

**-Margulide**

**god of stuff - **As for your request on a timeline, you shall have it... It's attached to the end of the chapter :P

**Chm01 - **She's not really girly... fine, she is, but the little girl is seven. And she's just met her brother for the first time. And besides, with Rika as her sister and rolemodel, not to mention Naruto's eventual influence… need I say more :P. Meeting Nue? Soon. Naruto and Sora conflict? – you'll see some of it this chapter. As for Nike, or Sora (space) being a sociopath… the guy was only three/four when Naruto fell into a coma, so he couldn't really tell anything about that. As for the hots for Simca and reactions to it… we'll see. And your last question, about Ikki's training after Sora's (sky) abandonment… well, I haven't fully decided on that yet. That's still a ways off in my story… fanfic. I'm going to go through a bunch of stuff before canon comes in, so yeah… it'll come up, eventually.

**Dragoon95 - **As for the OVAs… I'm not really sure. I think It may have been a one time thing. I've heard that they may release one around February of next year… but it's just rumors. I have no actual proof and I don't remember quite where I found that information.

**Ukiyo Nishiyori - **Thanks for that :P nice to see that made someone laugh.

**New101 **and** MaelstromFan - **Thanks guys, and about the reviews… well, to be honest. I think it may scale with the amount of people reading it. To be honest, I'm surprised I do have this many. Not that it isn't cool, in fact, I love it. I believe it's the amount of people who don't know what Air Gear is, or just something like that. So yeah, there's my answer to you. The fact that you guys say my story, in my own words, 'owns,' is cool enough. More reviews would be appreciated though :P

As for a community, MaelstromFan… well, I don't really know about those, so if you or someone else suggests my story, that'd be cool.

**fanofmany - **Like I replied to Chm01, Mikan is seven years old. She's bound to be happy when her brother is around, especially if he's never been around before. And, like I stated earlier… she'll grow out of it… mostly. Well, a bit like you said, but she'll still be the amazing girl she is in canon. To be honest, I was originally going to go and have Ringo, instead of Mikan, be Naruto's youngest sibling... the similarities between Kushina's and Ringo's hair came into play… In the end, I went more with personality. Really.

**Aizakku - **My future life partner says thanks, and I do as well.

To all the reviewers and the ones I haven't directly replied to, (umbra8191, sh8ad8ow, Silber. D. Wolf, Taeniaea) and the rest of my readers… thanks XD

**Any questions and/or Concerns, please leave a review... or a p.m.**

**Any inconsistencies that appear in the chapter below should be immediately reported to me so that I could check over it and/or correct/clarify it.**

* * *

ACL: 14,753 (Word Length- from FF dot Net)

Posted: December 14, 2010.

* * *

**Maelstrom Road**

**Ch 8…**

**~Ain't that a Ditch~**

* * *

**- Chapter 8: Start -**

* * *

**- Park in the Higachu District –**

**_November 25, 2000 : 4:17 P.M._**

A shout of "Alright! Good Job." rang across the late afternoon sky, a long-haired blonde teen dressed in a plain white t-shirt and a pair of jeans leading a young pink-haired girl through a set of jumps and dives in the currently empty, aside from them, skate park. "We're done for the day."

Coming to a hard stop by a light pole, Naruto grabbed a hold of his sister before she tackled him. "Hey, hey. Careful." He smirked, "Don't hit this, okay?" he said, pointing to his stomach, which was still swathed with bandages under his shirt.

"Alright, aniki…" Mikan said, wriggling out of his grip. "When are you going to teach me to use the wind like you do?" she asked, glaring at him with her arms crossed. "You said you would!"

"Hmm…" Naruto mumbled, giving his sister a sidelong glance. "You say something?"

"Yeah, this!" she shouted, as she slapped his stomach and ran away, leaving a Naruto who was clutching at his stomach in pain.

"O-oi!" called out as he rubbed his stomach, "That was uncalled for!"

"No it wasn't!" she yelled back from behind one of the trees that surrounded the park.

"Yes it was! Ine-chan said that I wasn't supposed to get this thing hit at all and then I'd finally be able to get rid of the bandages." he yelled back, once he stood back up once the pain had subsided. Hearing no reply, he narrowed his eyes, only to hear a set of ATs approach him quickly from behind. Turning around, he caught a glance of pink hair, and fearing for his stomach's safety, he ducked, Mikan going over his head from her attempted flying kick.

"Stay still, Naruto-nii! I'm going to beat you up so you won't be able to do anything but teach me!" she shouted, as she landed and made another attempt to hit him.

Laughing, he blocked her punches with his palms, "How am I going to teach you if I can't move?" he taunted as he caught her fist, which was headed for his abdomen. "Besides… you're not really helping me recover." He continued in an attempt to stop her, resisting her attempts at both injuring his stomach further and freeing her right arm. "The sooner I heal, the sooner we can get to the stuff you want to get to." He finished, blocking a kick with his own ATs.

"Ahh! Stop it!" Mikan cried out, pulling at her big brother's fingers in an attempt to free her hand, "Let me go! You're holding me too tight!"

"Eehhh… no I'm not!" Naruto quickly said, letting his grip loosen as he pulled her arm upwards and lifted her off the ground, "Not until you stop struggling and listen to me."

"I'll listen to you once you teach me, dammit!" she said, trying to kick him from her hanging position, only to be rebuffed by one of his feet.

"But I can't teach you until I'm fully healed!" he retorted, starting to have trouble with keeping her still.

"It doesn't even have to be the big stuff yet!" she shouted at him with a glare as she stopped resisting. Before whispering, "Please?" as she hung limply from her arm which was held in his.

Hearing her statement, he paused, looking at her before grinning and patting her head with his left hand. "Alright." He nodded, getting a look of surprise from her. "What? Did you think that I really wouldn't teach you?" Receiving a hesitant nod, he rolled his eyes, "And what makes you think that?"

Still hanging from her brother's arm, she replied as she attempted to shrug with a pout, "It's been a week since you said you would and you haven't said anything since."

Raising an eyebrow at her, he let loose a small chuckle as he let go of her arm, causing her to tumble onto the ground. "Ahh, about that…" he said, scratching his cheek as he looked away, "I forgot about it." He mumbled.

"Huh?" she asked, her eyes narrowed at his words from her place on the ground, "Can you repeat that, Naruto-nii?"

"I said you didn't say please." He repeated, louder this time, hoping she didn't hear his first answer.

"Oh." She replied softly.

Thinking that was the last of it, he relaxed, only to feel her get him with a gut punch as she stood up. Collapsing onto the ground, he mumbled a weak question, "Why?"

Mikan looked down on him with a glare and then turned away, "I forgot about it." She said, shrugging as she made her way away from her brother. Looking back at her brother who was wheezing on the ground, she sighed and turned back, only to stop in front of his body. Staring down at her brother, she held her hand out. "Will you teach me then, please? And I'll stop hitting your stomach."

Thinking that he may as well accept, and hopefully get rid of these weird abdominal pains he'd received since Ringo's collision with his abdomen, he nodded, "Alright." He groaned, "Stop hitting my stomach and I'll teach you. Deal?" he asked, putting his hand out.

"Deal." She answered, clasping his hand with hers and shaking it. "Okay, see you at home, nii-chan!" she said happily as she left him lying down beside the bench, ignoring his pleas for her to stay.

* * *

A few minutes later, and Naruto's pain had subsided enough for him to get onto the bench nearby. Sighing in relief from the painful position he was in earlier, he looked up, watching the sky's colors as the sun set and the moon and stars came out.

"Got beaten by a little girl, eh, Naruto-niichan." A voice said jovially from his left, causing Naruto to jump a bit in surprise as he hadn't noticed the person appear.

"Spitfire." Naruto rolled his eyes, "I'm just trying to get her to be more spontaneous is all. Just a couple of cheap shots that I presented her." He said, waving his right arm around before he caught Spitfire's small jab to his stomach with his left. Shifting his eyes to Spitfire, Naruto narrowed them in a threatening manner, "Don't. You. Dare." He ground out, squeezing Spitfire's hand harder at each word.

Pulling his fist away, Spitfire attempted a retort, only to be interrupted by the sound of two ATs.

Turning his head towards the noise, and recognizing the sound of someone speeding up, he got up and intercepted a kick, grabbing it with one arm and seizing their throat with the other. Upon realizing the identity of the person he held tightly with his fist, his eyes widened. "Black?" he asked, noticing the distinct purple hair and eyes. "Don?" he asked incredulously as he caught sight of the large and somewhat heavyset Gravity Child.

Blackburn swatted away at the hand that was holding his throat, "C-can't Breathe!" he gasped out, causing Naruto to drop him.

"Eh…" Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Sorry about that… wasn't paying attention." He said, holding an arm out to pick up Blackburn.

Grasping the pro-offered hand, Blackburn got up. "I can't believe it…" he wondered out loud, patting Naruto's shoulders. "You're grip is as strong as ever."

Dontores chuckled deeply, setting the Boombox that transformed into his regalia down on the ground. Moving over, Dontores grabbed the three other guys in his huge arms, "Bwahahaha!" he laughed out loud, "This is great! It seems that the group is back together!" he crowed, setting them back down.

Stepping back, Naruto laughed softly, "Yeah… not all of us though." He whispered as he sat back down on the bench, quickly dampening the mood. Looking up at his old friends, he asked, "Do you guys know what happened to her? To Gazelle?" Spitfire and Dontores both shook their heads, unable to say anything. Noticing the lack of reaction from Blackburn, he narrowed his eyes. "Black?"

"I…" he whispered, turning his head to the side. "I don't really know for sure."

"But what do you know?" Naruto prodded, peering closely at the face of his friend.

"There were rumors that went out, after Gazelle stopped sending messages back to us." He stated. "We would receive these messages every other day at least. You know? To tell us more about life on the outside… so that once we were all out, we could adapt better. But once the messages stopped coming, some of us would sneak out to try and find her and we heard these rumors about her fighting these guys and this Gundam…"

Naruto asked, "Gundam?"

"Giant robot." Dontores grunted in reply, paying attention to the tale, not hearing any of this before.

Blackburn continued, "There were these two guys, and the rumors said they were flying, with wheels on their shoes." He sighed, "That's pretty much all we could get from the public. I'm sorry." He shrugged, "I don't know anymore."

"Who else knew?" Dontores asked, rubbing one of his arms through his coat.

"There was me, Kilik, Sora, Nike… I…" Blackburn said, rubbing his chin. "I think Om went out too, and so did Gabishi. Other than that, I forget."

Naruto sighed, before he started chuckling, "I'm sorry." He said, throwing them a small smile as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I'm back for less than a week and then I get you guys all depressed and everything within five minutes of meeting you."

"No," Dontores shook his head in refusal, "Understandable."

"Yeah." Blackburn continued, "As you said… you've only been back for a little over the week. Quite freaky, really." He said, shrugging, "The Tower's about to close and we're going to make a run for the Sky Regalia just as everyone else is."

"I agree. But I'm just glad you're back." Spitfire agreed.

"Same." Blackburn and Dontores added in unison.

"Hehe." Naruto laughed, "I'm glad to be back. But… Call me Naruto."

"Naruto?" Blackburn and Dontores parroted, confused.

Naruto answered, nodding. "Yeah. It's a new start for me. I'm not 'Mal' anymore. But if you guys want, you can still call me that, I guess."

Blackburn nodded as well, "I got it. Naruto, huh? It's fine… easy enough to make a nickname with, unlike you, Spitfire."

"He-hey!" Spitfire shouted indignantly, "I'd have you know that my name is just that awesome that people can't even come up with an appropriate nickname from my name.

"Yeah, Spittie." Dontores interjected, causing the group sans the dubbed Spittie to laugh.

"Shut up!" he growled, "I said, appropriate."

"Yeah, yeah. We've gone over this before, Spitfire." Blackburn retorted, trying to cut it off before they had a fight on their hands.

"Settle down, Spitfire, it's just for fun." Naruto interrupted his brother, who was about to get up and punch the still laughing Dontores, before turning back to his other friends. "So… what have you guys been up to? I know Spitfire's dating Ine and he's now working at a hair salon…" he started, causing Blackburn and Dontores to snicker and Spitfire's temper to rise once again, "Ahh, don't worry, otouto. I don't mind." He said, grinning, relaxing Spitfire somewhat. "And for you two." He continued, "I was told you're a rapper, Dontores. And you work at an electric company, Blackburn…" he shrugged, "But that's all I was told."

"Well, they'll be right." Dontores answered first, "I don't do much other than that and help Sleeping Forest out. I Haven't found something else to do yet other than rapping."

Accepting that, Naruto turned to Blackburn. "How about you?"

Blackburn shrugged, "Same. I do work at an electric company. It's something I do for fun anyways." He said, grinning, "Oh, and there's this." At that, Blackburn fumbled a bit with his back pocket, before bringing out a wallet. "Yeah." He said, taking out a picture, "This is my son, Nue. And my wife, Yuki." He said, drawing out a picture of a purple-haired baby in the arms of a black-haired woman. "I met her at the company a couple of years ago… Hmm, other than that, nothing really comes to mind." He finished.

"It's fine." Naruto said as he stretched out on the bench. "But seriously, guys? Is that all you've done? No crazy adventures or anything like that?"

"But nii-san, life is an adventure." Spitfire grinned, clapping his brother on the shoulder.

Thinking back to the week since he'd arrived, he smiled widely at the thought of Rika… and then the name resounded in his head. 'Rika.' He quickly paled, which the other guys noticed, before he shot off in the direction of the Higachu district, throwing the guys a garbled message as he left hurriedly.

* * *

Back at the park bench, Dontores turned to Blackburn and Spitfire. "Did he just…"

Blackburn sniffed in mock sadness, "Yeah. He ditched us… after being gone for so long…"

Spitfire, meanwhile, nodded in agreement with a smile on his face. "Yeah… I was wondering when he'd realize it."

"Realize what? He'd been gone for a long time? I'm just happy that he remembered us." Blackburn stated, turning away from the retreating figure of his no longer comatose friend, "What'd he say anyway, I didn't even catch any of that."

"I only caught the name Rika." Dontores agreed, before he shot Spitfire a questioning look, "Wait… you don't mean… Rika? Our Rika?"

Spitfire snickered at his brother's antics. "Yeah." He nodded, "Apparently, they hit it off when they met. And right now, he's staying with them, with our younger sister."

Blackburn asked, stunned, "Wait… Rika. As in the one Sora likes… Rika? The one that he constantly hits and pervs on more than any girl he pervs on… Rika?"

Spitfire only laughed more at Blackburn's stunned look. "Hahaha. Yeah, that Rika. They've already been in bed together actually." He nonchalantly stated, omitting the fact that they were only sleeping in the same bed.

Dontores fell over from the shock as Blackburn flopped down onto the seat that Naruto had vacated and covered his face with his palms… "Holy shit… Sora's gonna kill everyone once he finds out."

"Finds out what?" Sora asked, as he dropped down in front of them, causing the other three to scream out in fear.

"!" they exclaimed, at his sudden and unexpected appearance, stopping and staring at the sudden change in Sora's visage, which was shadowed ominously despite there being nothing that should've caused a shadow there in the first place, only for them to scream once again. "!"

"Huh? What's wrong guys?" he asked with a worried face, only for his face to darken because they didn't stop screaming, "You guys aren't doing drugs are you?" he growled, eyeing them warily as he peered down at their screaming forms.

"Drugs are bad for you…" Sora whispered in a low voice, his fingers wiggling in front of him as an ethereal light lit up the bottom side of his face.

* * *

Naruto rushed home, even though he knew he was probably going to get scolded heavily by Rika for not watching Mikan. _'Ahh, shit… hopefully I'll be able to catch up to her before she reaches home!_' he berated himself as he was about to start a wallride so he could start runing across the rooftops, but was stopped when he caught sight of Mikan in an ice cream parlor. _'What the hell?'_ he asked himself, stopping at the corner of the street, _'why would she be there?'_ he asked himself, eyeing the area in case anything odd was present.

Making his way towards Mikan somewhat stealthily, mingling with the passerby, he saw another set of pink hair and relaxed. "Hey, Simca-chan! What are you doing?" he yelled out as he made his way across the street.

"Naruto-niichan!" Simca cried out, handing Mikan an ice cream cone before rushing over and giving him a hug. "I saw Mikan on her way home and I decided to chat with her over some ice cream. Is something wrong?"

Naruto sighed as he pulled away from the hug, "Ahh, nothing really. I was held up because, Mikan here…" he stated as he glared at his youngest sibling, who promptly ignored him, "decided to get a cheap shot in before she made her way home. Probably to get me into trouble with Rika-chan. Isn't that right, Mika-chan?" Naruto asked, and was subsequently ignored in favor of her ice cream.

"Mikan, stay here, okay? I have something to ask Naruto-nii, okay?" Simca asked, receiving a nod from her sister. Quickly pulling Naruto aside, around the corner of the establishment, Simca fidgeted with her hat before she stated quietly, "Naruto-niichan, I have something important to tell you." Intrigued, Naruto nodded at her to continue, "You know how Kilik and Sora are best friends right?"

"Yeah. They've always been." Naruto said, "But I remember you saying that they were having troubles and stuff, right?"

"Mmhmm." Simca nodded, wondering if he really did hear whatever they were saying around him when he was in a coma, especially since he was in the Cryogenic Freezer at the time, "Lately, they've they've been obsessing over the smallest things. But what it all comes down to is that they're fighting over what to do with the Sky Regalia."

"So, what is it that you need to talk to me about?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arms in front of him, trying to figure out what might've been the problem between the two, "I'm guessing that Kilik doesn't want anyone to get it, and Sora wants to get it and they're dragging everyone down into their mess."

"Yeah." Simca nodded slowly, unsure as to how Naruto figured the stuff out. "What I'm asking you, aniki… is to protect the Tower when they finally decide to fight."

"That makes sense…" Naruto nodded, before he looked at her face, "But why should I let them fight in the first place, Simca?"

"Because… they've also been fighting over Rika, and if they find out that you're with her…" Simca whispered uneasily, tugging at the hem of her shirt.

"Oh." Naruto said, before his eyes widened, "Oh… yeah, I get it." He laughed nervously, "You're saying that they'll probably focus on me once I appear, aren't you?"

"Yep." She said brightly, before she continued, "They might also know that you're together by now."

"Wait, what?" he asked, stunned, "I mean we only got together… last week. How'd they know?" he questioned, before peering at her face, causing her to fidget and blush under the scrutiny.

"W-what?" she stuttered, her hands fiddling with her hat, despite the fact that he was her brother… he was still very cute.

"How did you know anyways?" he asked her.

"Ine-chan told the girls as soon as you left their apartment, and I don't think it would take long for it to reach the guys, who'll probably just blurt it out somewhere." Simca tried to nonchalantly state, only to fail miserably as she looked around and made sure no one was listening in.

Naruto cursed at the news, not watching Simca or her reactions, missing her nervous state, "Damn it, what the hell?" taking a deep breath, he asked, "So, do they know where I'm staying?"

"No, she at least didn't say that much." Simca, who'd recomposed herself, reassured him before adding, "And before you ask, they usually won't be caught entering her area. She doesn't like it when people step into her territory."

Naruto nodded, "That makes a lot of sense. Is that all though? Actually, how do you even know they're going to fight?"

Simca sighed, "It's actually partly my fault."

He raised his brow in response to that, "How so?"

"A couple of months back, when we found out that the Trophaeum Tower was closing, Sora decided to pull all of us aside, one by one to tell us that we were going to make our attempt on the Sky Regalia."

"So Kilik?"

"No, Kilik never knew that the purpose of Sleeping Forest was to obtain the Sky Regalia. Sora never made a move on it because he was content with just keeping everyone out." She explained, "But Kilik always wanted to keep it out of everyone's hands, because he said that it was too much power to be in anyone's hands and I decided to…"

Putting the pieces together, Naruto asked, "So you told him about it?"

"Yeah, Naruto-niichan, I told him but he didn't take it well. And yesterday… he confronted all of us, aside from you, Rika and Ine. And he left, to probably get his own team or something to 'defend' the Tower."

Naruto stayed silent at the news, before he whispered, "Does he hate me?"

Surprised, she almost yelled out, "What? Kilik? No way, he's glad you're back, nii-san."

Shaking his head, Naruto looked back around the corner to make sure Mikan was still sitting down, before turning back to Simca, "No, I mean Sora… sorry about that. I mean, I'm back, you know? And I was 'The Wind King,'" he stated, holding up his fingers as quotation marks, "And I'm currently dating Rika… Does that make Sora hate me? And Kilik, for that matter? I mean, sure I was figuring out what would happen if I met them when they were fighting, so I'm trying to see if anything bad will happen if I decide to meet you guys sometime before then."

"I-I don't know, Naru-nii." Simca whispered, remembering Kilik's reaction to Naruto and Rika's kiss a week ago, only to inwardly shudder at her guess at what Sora's reaction would be, once he found out, "But they don't seem to be too bothered, from what I've seen."

Naruto shook his head at that, "I guess they are a bit bothered even though they won't show it, huh?" he glanced back at Mikan, who was still eating her ice cream cone, before turning back to Simca, "to be honest, Simca… I'm sorry that this all happened, but when I'm with Rika…" he trailed off, before he gave a small grin, "I can't help it. But… in any case, give this to Sora." He said, pulling out a small envelope, "Tell him… that he can keep the title of The Wind King and the Wind Regalia. I'm trying to find my own niche, and to be honest," he chuckled, "I'm sure I can branch off and find my own road, if not create it."

Taking hold of the letter, she looked up at him, "So will you stay away when they fight?"

"We'll see." He said, turning around and motioning for Mikan to come to him.

"But Naru-nii…" she protested, grabbing hold of his arm just as Mikan grabbed his other one.

Facing her, he gave her a small smile, "I'll protect the Tower. I'll stay out of the fight, but…"

"But?" she asked, hoping he wasn't going to say what he was going to.

"They're my friends too, Simca. We were all in it together. Sure, I may have been out of it for a while, but we're all brothers and sisters there if not by blood, then by our upbringing and our lives. Besides, I can't have my brother and my former apprentice fight with each other after all… they'll be wasting their friendship if they do." he declared with a large smile, giving Simca a one-armed hug, "Make sure to give him that letter… and tell whoever knew me, that I'm back. Heh, I don't want to drop by and get attacked because they think I'm an intruder. If they attack me because they know it's me… well, we'll see." He whispered, leaving her stunned at the corner before he and Mikan made their way home.

"What the hell, Nii-chan…" Simca muttered to herself, staring down at the letter he'd handed to her. "All that work to get you to stay away, and you just turn it around at the last second…" she pouted, before heading off towards the Tower, where hopefully, either Rune or Ine could help her while still asking herself more questions, "I mean… I can see that Kilik would secede from Sleeping Forest and he still has his flair for the dramatic. Grrr… why the hell do my brothers have to be so annoying?" she yelled at the end, causing several people to look at her funny. "What?" she yelled, causing them to turn away as to pretend they weren't looking, only to find that she was gone when they turned back to look.

* * *

**- Noyamano Household –**

**_December 2, 2000 : 11:13 A.M._**

"Hurry up, Naru-kun!" Rika called out as she finished putting on her 'AT clothes,' which consisted of her red leotard, and her black trench coat, only this time, putting on a pair of jeans instead of just her red pant-leg. "We're going to be late!"

"Alright, alright… I'm coming already." Naruto laughed, slinging his ATs onto his back, wearing a set of brown cargo pants and a white shirt overlaid by a navy blue windbreaker. Leaving his room, he brushed his hair out of his eyes, moving the now shorter hair to the side. Rika had convinced to have a haircut, so he tried to get it cut the way he'd always had it cut in Konoha, except he decided to forgo any sort of headwear that would cause his hair to bunch up into thick spikes because Spitfire suggested it. Which, according to his girlfriend, made him look 'hotter.'

Laughing inwardly, he looked in the mirror that hung right besides the stairs and scratched the back of his head asking himself, _'Who knew Spitfire could turn out to be such an amazing barber?'_ as he mussed up his hair, making it look more windswept than in naturally did, despite the fact that he and Rika were about to leave the house. Spitfire really was a good barber, or hairstylist, able to cut his hair the way both he and Rika liked it best, without a lot of effort or input.

Figuring that he was all set, he called out to Rika, poking his head into her room, repeating the same thing she'd said earlier, "Hey! We're going to be late!"

"Shut up!" she yelled, throwing a shoe with deadly accuracy, only to hit the door frame as he closed the door. "Give me one minute!"

Chuckling, he moved into the living room, only to see Ringo and Mikan sitting in front of the TV watching Godzilla fight another monster. "Where's Ikki?" he asked, grabbing a donut from his 'secret stash' behind the vegetables in one of the cabinets. Receiving no answer, he flicked a piece of the donut at Mikan, "Where's Ikki?"

"Out with his friends." Mikan stated, popping the donut piece into her mouth.

Shaking his head, Naruto finished the donut and grabbed a glass of juice from the fridge just as Rika came out of her room, her ATs already attached to her feet. "Girls, we're going out, okay?"

"Okay."

Giving Rika a playful glare at the fact that they answered her straight away, he attempted to take a drink from his glass of juice, only for Rika to take it and drink it all down in one go. "Thanks Naru-kun." She said, handing him back the now empty glass of juice.

Mouth wide, Naruto accepted the glass before he straightened himself and just grabbed a water bottle. "Che. Ready?"

"Put yours on."

"I'll wait till we get outside."

"You know you could just put them on, in here."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off, heading out the back door, "Bye girls."

"…"

Rika followed, calling back to the girls watching TV, "Bye girls."

"Bye!"

"Do you know what to tell Ikki?"

"You guys are out at work."

Smiling to herself, she walked out the back door, only to come face to face with the annoyed face of Naruto, who was peering at her closely. "W-what?" she asked, wondering why he was staring at her like that.

"Why do they listen to you like that?" he asked, his mouth forming into a pout.

Letting out a giggle, she came up to him, her arms snaking around his neck and whispering in his ear. "Beat me to the meeting point and I'll tell you." Right before she gave him a peck on the cheek and dashed off.

His hand coming up to touch the place he'd been kissed, Naruto stared blankly at the closed door, only for his eyes to widen, "Hey, Rika! What the hell?" he yelled, chasing after her. "I don't even know where the hell the meeting point is!"

"Well, I guess you'll never know now, huh?" she called back, laughing at his fuming expression.

Seeing her laugh, he shook his head, pushing himself to catch up to her, "What if we tie?" he yelled, riding the side of one of the buildings, following her trail.

She only laughed more, increasing her speed. "Why don't you try and find out?"

* * *

**- Third Floor, Building under Construction –**

**_December 2, 2000 : 11:25 A.M._**

"Tie!" Naruto yelled out, landing onto the third floor of a building that was currently under construction at the same time Rika did. Laughing, he grabbed her hands, "Now you have to tell me!"

"Oh?" she asked playfully, giving him a hug as she looked up at him. "I don't remember saying that."

"But technically, a tie is two people winning at the same time." Naruto rebutted, returning it.

"I said that you'll have to try and find out." She whispered, her face coming closer to his.

"I guess I am." He whispered back, meeting her in a deep kiss and deciding that this was definitely better only to be interrupted a few seconds later with a wolf-whistle and a couple of cat-calls. Quickly pulling away from Rika, he found himself faced with a few smiling faces, a couple of disappointed ones, a disinterested one and an emotionless one. Suddenly nervous, especially because of the emotionless one, he scratched the back of his head with his left hand and pulled Rika closer to him with his right, "Uhh… hey guys."

Rika merely rolled her eyes, gesturing to the rest of the group, "This… Naru-kun, is Sleeping Forest. You probably know everyone here, considering you all came from the same place, but if you don't remember…"

Shaking his head, Naruto spoke, "I know them… The Sleeping Forest, huh?" he asked, receiving nods, before he voiced his first question, "Where's Kilik or Nike, guys?"

"Kilik's out." Rune said, pointing in the direction of the Downtown area, drawing Naruto's attention away from the nervous countenances of some of his teammates.

"But you." Sora said, his face still emotionless as he walked closer to Naruto who nudged Rika away just in case something happened. "Mael…"

"Yeah?" he asked, trying to peer under the shadows to look at Sora's eyes.

"How the hell did you get Rika-chan to go out with you?" He suddenly exclaimed, giving Naruto a big hug and stunning everyone present due to the unexpected turn of subject, "I've been trying for so long!" he cried into Naruto's shoulder.

Unsure of what to do, he turned to Rika, who suddenly kicked Sora away because of his sudden jump at her. "Don't!" she stated, pinning him down with her foot.

"Mael, you've corrupted her." Sora declared to Naruto as he pointed at Rika. "She's wearing pants! Why?" he pleaded, only to be silenced when a baseball smacked into his head, knocking him out.

"Too troublesome for words, our leader, right guys?" Ine nonchalantly stated, holding another baseball in her hands.

"Right!"

Laughing at their actions, Naruto looked around once more, "Guys, where's Sora?"

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" Rika asked, "Sora's right there." She said, pointing at the unconscious boy at their feet.

Rolling his eyes, "Sora… Sora's twin." He explained before scoffing, "See, this is why I didn't want you guys to pick the same name, Sora." He stated, giving a small nudge to Sora's ribs. "Weird, though." He thought aloud, "I would have thought that Nike would be here as well. Or has he not taken a 'spot' just yet?" he asked, throwing his fingers up in quotation mark fashion.

"He wanted to gain his own road." Sora stated, looking up at Naruto from his position at their feet. "Said he'd go and 'find himself,' he did. Why're you looking for him though, when I'm here?" he asked, gesturing at himself with his hands.

Shaking his head in the negative, Naruto replied, "I dunno. Since, as of right now, I don't have my own road quite yet…" he trailed off, shrugging, "Guess I wanted to see if he had any tips if he found his own. Guess not though."

Eyes widening in disbelief, Sora got up and looked straight into Naruto's eyes, "So… what Simca said is true?" he asked, grabbing the collar of Naruto's jacket. "You're really… really leaving the Title and the Regalia to me?" he whispered, both of them not noticing the quiet atmosphere that suddenly overtook the room.

Patting Sora on the shoulder, Naruto pulled his jacket out from his grip with some effort, "Well, yeah, why not? They're yours, the title of Wind King and the _Bagram_." He declared loudly, catching the attention of the other occupants of the room and throwing them off-guard, besides Simca and Rika, surprising at his admission. "I'm going to find my own path, you know?" he continued, ignoring the surrounding people. "Besides, you know me, Sora." He grinned ferally, showing his longer than usual canines, the effect now more prominent with his whisker-marks drawing attention to his eyes and mouth. "And how I am about competition." He finished, clapping Sora in the shoulder.

"You…" Sora stated, his eyes peering at the blonde in front of him. _'I know you.'_

"Yeah." Naruto replied, rolling his eyes. _'I know you do.'_

"Maelstrom." He growled, his fists clenching. _'You're messing with me, aren't you?'_

"Sky." He replied, shaking his head and holding hands at his sides._'Of course not.'_

"Naruto?" Sora asked with an eyebrow raised, showing his skepticism. _'So it's really true?'_

Naruto nodded, pulling Sora into a quick hug, "Sora." He mocked, before rushing away. '_Thanks for getting me Rika.'_

"Namikaze!" he shouted angrily, giving chase. _'My woman, you motherfucker!'_

"Takeuchi!" Naruto laughed, leading him around the surrounding area. _'Not anymore, bro! I won this competition.'_

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the unfinished building, the females of Sleeping Forest were stunned.

Rika turned to the rest of them, her hands on her hips, "What the hell was that?"

Ine shook her head, followed by Simca, who said, "I don't know."

Turning to the guys, they noticed that they looked like they understood all of it. "Do you know?"

Spitfire nodded, his eyes closed, showing off an arrogant air, "Yes." _'Of course I do! It's man talk!'_

Dontores agreed, looking like they asked him a question everyone should've known the answer to. "Yeah." _'Well, of course we do. It's a stipulation of the Guy code to be able to talk without words after all.'_

Blackburn nodded, eyes tracking the blurred forms of his fellow Gravity Children as he grunted his consent. "Mmhmm." _'It seems that Naruto wasn't completely back, the last time we talked to him. No wonder he was saying all of that stuff out loud.'_

Falko merely shook his head, shooting glares at his fellow males, flipping his bowler hat in his hands, "Some of it." _'Dammit, you guys. You didn't teach me all of it yet. I couldn't catch half of it!'_

Finally turning to Rune, who merely looked nonplussed, "I… don't know…" He paused, eyeing the other guys warily before continuing, "It was-" He started explaining, before his face was covered by the hands of the other guys, confusing the females.

"Rune!" Spitfire declared with an imperious air. _'You shouldn't even hint at this.'_

"What are you going to do about it?" he asked, confusing the women even more due to their actions.

"Hn." Dontores grunted, pulling his sleeve up. _'Noogie time.'_

Staring with varying looks of confusion at the odd ritual that the guys were participating in, the girls decided to leave a letter stating that they were to deal with the new upstarts by themselves as they had enough people to do so. Nedless to say, that was the first time that Sleeping Forest hadn't shown up to a match, causing the team to proclaim themselves as 'strong enough to scare those "shitty sleepy fucking resters" away.' Again, there was no need to say that their existence was wiped out soon after… quite forcefully, in fact.

* * *

**- Rooftops, across the city from the Trophaeum Tower –**

**_December 14, 2000 : 8:25 P.M._**

"Take this, Assholes!" Naruto yelled out, as he kicked one of his assailants into a large propane tank, following up with a thrown lighter which caused a large explosion to echo throughout the area as Naruto burst through the smoke and dashed through the rooftops, unchained fury simmering in his eyes. Rika following closely behind him, her own eyes overshadowed by anger and worry.

This day... was hell. It had started out quite fine, more than fine in fact. It was perfect... with it all of it being bright and sunny despite the dark clouds that dotted the distance. They left their home early, leaving the children with Rika's parents, to go out on a date... their third during the month, but the atmosphere was shattered mid-afternoon when Simca's message reached Rika's phone, reading:

**"It's time, aniki, Rika-chan… They are coming."**

Soon after that, they'd heard explosions and crashes despite the fact that they were on the opposite side of the city from the Tower. And that wasn't the end of it... there were swarms of Stormriders that attacked them once just as they'd left the small restaurant they visited, a place where one of Rika's non-AT using friends worked. Not only that, but once the whole place descended into a brawl, the sky grew darker... not that it was a problem for them… but it just made the situation look bleaker and more ominous. But the disturbing fact was that they knew they were there._'Dammit, if we didn't bring our ATs with us...'_Naruto thought to himself, pushing himself forward, with Rika mimicking his increase of speed.

Naruto growled from deep within his throat as he caught a glimpse of an explosion that lit up the sky in the direction of the Tower. Pausing at the top of a parking building, Naruto observed the amount of people scaling the buildings around them as Rika halted right beside him. "Dammit, we're never going to reach there in time!" he ground out as he kicked out at an attacking Stormrider and redirected him to crash into the windshield of a car.

"You should go ahead!" Rika shouted as she spun around and unleashed her Thorn Regalia, throwing the glowing thorns of the Sonia Road at the surrounding Stormriders, "Come on, Naru-kun!"

At her exclamation, Naruto chuckled deeply in his throat, pushing his hands together and gathering the wind around him. Dodging an attack, he compressed the air into a ball and kicked it at a group of rushing 'riders, causing it to explode outwards, throwing the 'riders off the building or onto the concrete or the cars that were in the parking structure. "No!" he shouted back, "It's been a while since I've even gone and visited them, let alone sparred with them! You know them more than I do right now. You'll be able to stop them more than I could!" he exclaimed, as he executed a forwards roll and tackled a 'rider who was about to attack Rika from behind.

"But!" she exclaimed, only to be interrupted as she whirled around and slashed at a pair of Riders who tried tag-teaming her, cutting them and their ATs down.

"Rika!" Naruto yelled, kicking his foot upwards and bringing it down onto a hood of a car, causing it to flip upwards and smash into some Stormriders that had decided to jump in. "Trust me! Right now, I'll probably get my ass handed to me if I step between them." He stated, deflecting a pipe away from his head. "You're the Sleeping Forest's queen, Rika! I'm not back up to a hundred percent yet… I probably can't handle them at full power just yet, let alone anyone else who jumps in!" He continued, slamming the remaining hand infused with wind onto a female Stormrider's stomach, causing her to be propelled into a group of her fellow attackers. Seeing Rika falter, he prodded her, making a shooing motion with his left hand, "Go on. You can do it. I'll be sure to keep myself safe, okay? It's a promise!" he declared, changing the shooing motion into a thumbs-up and a wide grin just as he smashed his other fist onto a 'rider who was sneaking up behind him, "See, I can handle these goons with no problem, now go!"

Hesitating once more, she nodded before going up to him and whispering, "I'll hold you to it, Naru-kun," before she blew him a kiss and rushed off in the direction of the Tower. The Stormriders made to chase her, only to have Naruto suddenly appear and push them with a blast of wind back onto the Parking Building.

Brushing his hands together as if to remove dust from them, Naruto landed on the railing, standing between them and his girlfriend, "Who the hell are you anyways?" he asked, pointing a finger at them.

"We're the West's Raging Whirlpools!" A man who looked to be their leader yelled out, his subordinates wearing orange windbreakers while he wore a black and orange one that reminded Naruto of his own orange and black jumpsuit and his ancestry.

His right eye twitching at the way they were demeaning the very essence of his favorite color and his heritage, Naruto yelled back, "You want to get her? You have to get past me." Clenching his fist tightly, he growled, "You're definitely not getting past me."

Angered at the slight against their skills and ignoring the fact that he had, indeed, kicked their assess only a minute ago, they rushed him, only for him to disappear just they reached him… "Wh-what?" one of the assaulters yelled as he stopped and started looking around as it started to rain.

"Where the hell is he?" yelled another, who was looking over the side of the building. "He didn't escape to the streets!"

"Did he cause this!" shouted another, who was warily watching the rainfall from his spot in the floor under.

"You can't be that stupid, of course he couldn't." their leader encouraged, clapping one of his subordinates on the back and causing him to fall over from the force of the blow.

"But he was with the Thorn Queen, so he might have one of those Regalias…" the winded subordinate asked.

"Well, shit… you might be right…" the leader mused, before catching sight of Naruto at the other end of the parking lot, "Hey, Get him!" he pointed, pushing one of his underlings towards the blonde.

Laughing his head off inside his head, Naruto flexed his fingers and drew the air into compressed balls of air, similar in size to the Rasengan that was created by his father, into the palms of his hands. _'Guess it's time to see if this works!'_ he cried out mentally, eyeing the rainfall as he shoved the wind into the rear wheels of his ATs, causing the rear wheels to morph and expand.

Even though he was still using the black and orange set of ATs he'd left the lab with, Naruto had replaced the original 'standard' wheels with the first set of the _Dawn-Borne Eos,_ but not after applying water-proofing seals so that they would do what he hoped they would do… but on a larger and better scale.

Similar to the way _Bagram_ would extend part of its wheels to allow air intake and expulsion automatically with its blades, allowing one to hover and 'fly' once their ATs reached a sufficient speed or rotation… the _Eos_ required a set amount of pressure usually achieved during a fast enough run, that would cause the Regalia to open on their own... or in this case, hands 'powered with wind.' Because in addition to the water-resistance seals, he'd added a stipulation to activating the _Eos_... namely, the usage of wind Kan to activate what he called the 'first stage' of use. Whether he just generated wind Kan directly onto the ATs, or applied it with his hands, it didn't matter.

And unlike the _Bagram_, the _Eos_ were shaped more like propellers due to Yuri's and Simca's decision to showcase his 'antique' title and ability, showing a trio of propellers instead of the dual cutting blades that the _Bagram_ bore. Once he'd seen the design, Naruto hoped that with these propellers, they would allow him, at least in theory, to move through water like he could air and hopefully mold and gather water similar to the way he would gather the wind.

Smirking at the way the propellers released themselves without any problems, Naruto called out to his opponents who were frozen at the changes to his ATs. "Oi, jackasses, I'm back here!" hovering over the now wet pavement, the water sliding off the blades of the propellers, sprinkling the surrounding area.

Spotting the change in their opponent's wheels and his frozen comrades, the leader of the Raging Whirlpools urged his subordinates to attack once again, "Take him down! He has a Regalia on him!"

Seeing the closest ones tense up, signaling their intentions, Naruto started spinning in place, balancing with wind just enough to keep himself from falling over. Seeing and feeling the water and the wind revolve around him and gather at his feet, "You want my Regalia? Come and get them!" he crowed at same time that they attacked. As the first one threw himself at Naruto, he ducked and kicked at the forming vortex around him, sending a gust of wind towards the surrounding people to hold them back as he elbowed the currently airborne 'rider in the diaphragm, causing him to grasp at his throat and drop onto one of the cars, causing its alarms to sound.

'_What the hell? Why weren't the other cars sounding off earlier?_' Naruto thought as he charged at the now incoming wave of attackers, kicking out blasts of wind at them as he elbowed or punched them as needed.

"Dammit, this is going to take a while…"he muttered to himself as he kept himself in the center of the parking lot, his revolutions and the Eos causing the falling rain and the wind to form into a waterspout that revolved around him. "But I'll be damned if this isn't fun!" he exclaimed to himself, causing the remaining 'riders to stop and finally pay attention to the growing water pillar.

"What the hell is he?" one of the 'riders questioned.

"T-t-there wasn't anything about a King who did this!" the leader stuttered to himself, before regaining his composure, "Who the fuck is you?" he yelled as he pointed at Naruto. "You're not Takeuchi Sora!"

Naruto laughed at the last statement, grinning coldly as he gathered even more wind into his palms. His actions combined with the sight of the water pillar fusing with the tornado around him causing several to fidget uneasily. "Me? I'm Uzumaki, you asswipe!" he exclaimed, twisting around and kicking his right AT against the waterspout, causing it to send out a ball of water similar to a Water Release: Gunshot (Suiton: Teppōdama) at the remaining Stormriders. Seeing them stunned at the use of water by an AT, Naruto decided to take advantage of it and flipped himself upside down, supporting himself with balls of wind on his hands and splayed his legs out and added some unmolded Kan to his feet to increase the speed at which the _Eos_ were spinning.

Noticing what Naruto was doing through the revolving curtain of water, one of the thugs stopped and asked stupidly, "What are you doing?" causing the rest of his group to stop as well and catch sight of Naruto's upside-down form to start spinning.

"It doesn't matter! Take him down befo-!" the leader shouted out just as the waterspout bulged around the middle. His eyes widened and he yelled out, "Oh Shit!" as he threw himself down onto the floor and covered his face, evading the circular blast of water that cut through his men and the vehicles like a hot knife through butter. Hearing nothing but the sound of the rain falling on the ground the leader looked up, only to look onto Naruto's emotionless face. "A-ah… what do you want? I can give you money… girls… a position on my team!" he groveled, throwing his head down and clasping his hands in front of him to ward off any retribution. "Have mercy!"

Meanwhile, Naruto deactivated his regalia and stared down at the man who had been hindering him from supporting his family… "Leave… and don't ever bother coming back. If you do," he growled, kicking the leader of the 'Whirlpool' riders in the side, causing him to whimper, "I will maim you and quite possibly kill you. Understand?" Nodding, the man got off the ground and rushed off, jumping off the side of the building and leaving Naruto alone among the unconscious and dead.

Watching the man leave, Naruto stood still, staring at the bodies of the people he'd killed with the untested Mizu Kamikiri (Rising Water Slicer). _'What the hell was that, all of that?'_he yelled inside his mind, _'It's as if it was…'_

"Instinct?" an unknown voice boomed out from behind him, startling him and causing him to lash out with the kick. Only to be stopped by a large metal hand.

"What!" Naruto shouted, looking up at the face of his Uncle Inari. "U-uncle?"

* * *

**- Rooftops, still across the city from the Trophaeum Tower –**

**_December 14, 2000 : 8:50 P.M._**

Rika slid down the slanted roof of an apartment complex, nearing the Tower and sprinting past the locations where she would spot heavy amounts of police officers and Stormriders present, who were fighting each other in the streets in the rain. _'What is wrong with these people!'_ she screamed mentally in frustration, _'There has never been this many people to gather at the same time, let alone attack each other while they're at it! It's like someone is organizing all of the other teams, trying to make their own attempt at the Tower more possible. Not only that, but it's today of all days! The day when we were going to make our own attempt at getting the Sky Regalia!'_

Jumping down onto a lower building that led her closer to the Tower, she continued her train of thought as she rode the edges of the building, _'It shouldn't be any of us who did this though... Even though all of the members of Sleeping Forest could possibly get this many people to do this and be organized, with the lead suspects being either Falko or Blackburn with their technological abilities or Dontores with his concerts.'_Rika rationalized as she jumped onto a railing that led upwards onto the next building, _'But that isn't right... Falko usually just messes around with his software, trying to copy our abilities into some sort of game. And Dontores' fans would be a lot louder. Blackburn wouldn't even think of doing this on the off chance his family would get hurt.'_

She halted as she reached the top of the railing, spotting several Stormriders who were blocking her way. Frowning at the annoyance, Rika smashed into the first one, slamming the female 'rider's head down onto the roof, smashing the stone and causing blood to flow. Glaring at the others, she continued her train of thought, _'Ine and Spitfire are out of the question unless the people who visit his salon spread the word, and I know that Ine would kill Spitfire if he did that. Especially since she doesn't want him doing anything remotely stupid. As a matter of fact, he, Blackburn and Dontores wouldn't even come close to doing anything like that normally, let alone with Naruto now 'back'... And Rune follows Ine because she's the Pledge Queen and he could care less anyway.'_She continued, dodging one of her attackers and grabbed their leg, spinning in place and knocking three more Stormriders away from her with her makeshift club.

Spotting an assailant who thought they were being sneaky, she let go of her bludgeon and watched the unconscious body slam into them. Hearing and seeing no one else, she looked around to find a way to speed her way towards the Tower. Spotting a city bus heading in that direction, she grinned, only to catch sight of a flagpole that jutted from the building she was standing on, making her face burst into a wide smile. Quickly diving down the corner of the building, she slowed herself down with some friction from her ATs, allowing her to catch the flagpole and swing herself off of it, throwing her on the top of the City Bus.

Taking the chance to rest, she continued her introspection, '_Simca?'_ she questioned herself, before quickly shaking her head of such thoughts. _'It's practically impossible, really...'_ she thought, reminding herself of her own Tuner's flirty and carefree attitude, _'The way she gathers people... it would be possible, but really noticeable. But then that leaves Kilik or Sora...'_

Jumping off the bus just as it passed the at the bottom of the Tower, she started wallriding towards the top, jumping onto and across the building's ledges and corners while thinking about the two boys who had competed for her affections. _'They wouldn't do that... surely, they wouldn't?'_ she questioned herself, before adding, _'Besides, I would have been told if Sora was planning something like this.'_

"And Kilik..."she whispered, just as she reached the top of the Tower, spotting the retreating bloody and tattered form of Kilik. "Kilik!" she yelled out, only for him to disappear in the shadows of the tall cathedral-like building that sat on the opposite side of the cross from the Trophaeum. Running after him, she ran past the pillars that lined the cross, only for something to catch her eye, making her look down onto the pit that was the upper-reaches of the Trophaeum.

"Sora? Spitfire! Don! Blackie!" she cried out, her eyes watering as she spotted the still forms of her fellow members in Sleeping Forest. "N-no! Guys, get up! This isn't a good prank, Sora! Kilik!" she yelled, pleading for her friends to stop worrying her. Jumping down into the pit, she moved closer to their bodies, her eyes widening at their bloody and bruised bodies and their broken ATs.

Shaking the form of Dontores, who was the closest, she shook him gently, "Don? Dontores... are you okay?"

At that, the large Gravity Child chuckled, coughing up blood, "Hehe... do I look okay?"

"I mean..."

Dontores shook his head, wincing slightly. "S'fine. I understand."

"Who did this?" Rika asked, "Who are they?"

Dontores closed his eyes before answering her, "Kilik." he began, "and the-…" only to fall unconscious before he could say anymore.

"What? Why? What could he gain from doing this." she asked herself, looking around to see if there were any other people that were conscious. Finding none that were, she flipped open her phone and dialed the number 5 on her speed dial. "Hey, Ine... can you help me? I found them... they're hurt badly. I need your help."

_"I'm on the way."_

* * *

**- On top of the Parking Building, across town from the Tower –**

**_December 14, 2000 : 8:43 P.M._**

"Hmm? Yes?"

Staring at the figure of his Uncle Inari inside the suit that Dontores and Blackburn had called a Gundam, Naruto asked, "Uncle Inari! It's me, Naruto… don't you remember me?"

The man in the Gundam shook his head, "I'm not Inari. Inari has… disappeared."

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked, incredulous, "You're right in front of me!"

"I'm Rinta. Minami Rinta, head of the corporation that your Uncle Inari worked for." Rinta stated with a wide grin.

"Impostor!" Naruto growled, crouching down low in preparation for an attack.

At the accusation, Rinta merely laughed uproariously, his body's movements were mimicked by the Gundam. "Bwahahaha! That's hilarious! I'm Dr. Minami, the head of his corporation! It's not my fault we have the same face or last name!" pounding on the side of his craft, causing the Gundam to smash the front end of one of the cars at the same time and causing Naruto to fall over from the unexpected reaction. "I merely said I was Dr. Minami, kid. They assumed that I was Inari, hehehe." The man continued as he wiped a tear out of his eye, an action that his suit mimicked, "Ahh… That was a good laugh. I merely wanted to get more information on what they were doing on the kids over there." He shrugged, the suit following, "And if I had to pose as one of my subordinates to get even more information so be it."

Getting up from his recent fall, Naruto eyed Rinta with an angry yet calculating look, "But I heard that you were getting rid of them, the Gravity children!"

At that, Rinta snorted, waving his right arm around as if to wave away a fly, causing the suit to smash it's arm into a pickup truck and have its alarm blare, "I wanted to scrap the project except for a couple of interesting people, is all. I was going to release the kids out into the world, let them live their own lives and stuff like that." He explained, causing Naruto to lose his anger instantly.

Scratching his head in confusion, Naruto asked, "But they told me you…" he began, pointing at Rinta.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Rinta cut him off, waving his index finger in a 'no' motion, the suit's hand almost hitting Naruto.

"Ahh, What the fuck! Stop waving it around!"

Realizing exactly what he was doing, Rinta let out a nervous laugh, "Ahh, sorry… Here, I forgot to deactivate it." Reaching over onto a lever, the suit powered down. "Better?" he asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow. Receiving a nod, Rinta continued on his explanation, "Tell me, Maelstrom? It is Maelstrom, Right?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, it's Naruto now."

Nodding in understanding, Rinta continued, "Well, Naruto… tell me, have you heard a saying about assuming?"

Seeing where this was going, Naruto nodded, "Yeah… Assuming makes, an ass out of u and me. I see what you're hinting at, Rinta, but I don't understand."

"Here, let me ask you another question though, before I set my answer down."

"Actually, before you continue, why would you give me this information anyways?" Naruto asked, his arms crossed in front of him, the now pouring rain matting his hair down and drenching his clothes.

Rinta shrugged, "Well, you see, I'm hoping I could gain an ally in you. And whether you accept or not, it would be nice to gain some feedback."

Deciding that the man had a point, Naruto spoke, "Okay, hit me."

"If I was really going to take the other kids down… wouldn't I have gotten my corporation or people I've hired to take them down once we found them?"

"Point to you." Naruto conceded.

"I mean, since they did what I wished for them to do already… why would I go after them anyway."

"Okay, you reinforced your point." Naruto grinned slightly, "Continue."

"As for the individuals that I asked for… they were more valuable to my goals, they would be able to accept them, to progress them."

"Point withheld," Naruto stated, "What is the goal? Who are they?"

"Nuh-uh! Not yet! Let me finish… The individuals I wanted Rune, Kilik and you."

"Me? What for?"

"Out of all the Gravity Children, you were the one that impressed me the most, little Maelstrom." He stated, causing Naruto to growl at the slight against him, "You were… the best, yet you withheld your potential. I know that miss Makigami was and is an amazing Tuner, but Rune… Rune would have been able to accomplish more due to the simple fact that he is, himself, a Gravity Child and she isn't. As for Kilik, he would have been able to do what I wished you to do if I couldn't have found you."

Naruto stared at the man who was in front of him, "And?" he growled, flexing his fingers, arms and legs in preparation for anything that the man might do.

"I wished to create the Sky King. Because the AI that we had created to safeguard the data and the 'Regalia' had decided that the 'Regalia' needed to be earned, by the people who truly wielded the title of Sky King."

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto asked, "So, why didn't you?" only to receive silence.

"Because…" Rinta grinned, causing Naruto to tense, "I like the way the AI thinks."

"What?" Naruto exclaimed, backing away from the man.

"True, it was possible to create the Sky King through you, Kilik, or even Sora! But you see, I like the quote the AI gave me. 'Fighting is what will cause the world to change.' And so I found a new goal… create conflict, because conflict will bring forth the person or people, mold them… create them into the people that would deserve the Sky Regalia. And the winner… shall take the spoils." He finished, with a wide, maniacal grin.

"That's insane!" Naruto yelled out, getting ready to fight or run if need be.

"Is it?" he asked, eyeing Naruto with a critical eye, "Kilik wishes to protect the people from the Sky Regalia while Sora wishes to save them, set them free, to uplift them with the Sky Regalia. With Kilik defending it, I wonder if he will eventually fall to the call of power and wield the Sky Regalia himself."

"He wouldn't! I may not have been here for the past ten or so years… but Kilik. Kilik will stand for his beliefs! All of us will. If he wishes to protect everyone from it, by not letting anyone touch the Sky Regalia. He, himself will not!"

"Oh? And how would you know that, Naruto-kun?"

"Because we're family. We were raised by a man that we called uncle despite our wishes to call him our father." Naruto declared hotly.

"Such sentimental thoughts do not suit you, Maelstrom-kun." Rinta admonished with a mocking tone.

"Shut your trap!"

"What will you do about it?"

"I'll take you down, and beat the answers out of you, you insane asshole!"

"Oh? Insane, is it? Well… we'll let the results speak for themselves!" he grinned, activating the Gundam. Seeing Naruto ready for a fight, Rinta lunged forward, throwing his right arm out in an attempt to catch the blonde.

Dodging to the side, Naruto ran along the railings to get away from the apparent madman. Looking back at the Gundam chasing him, Naruto yelled out, "You're the one that made them fight each other, aren't you!"

"No! In fact, they were heading in that direction already!" Rinta laughed as the AT suit closed up, sealing him inside, the head's eyes lighting up and his voice coming out of hidden speakers, "Hahahahaha! It was so easy!" he exclaimed, picking up one of the cars and throwing it at Naruto. "Telling little Sora about the Regalia!" he continued, throwing another car at his perceived prey, "I didn't even have to tell Kilik anything about the dangers of the Regalia!" he laughed, picking up a pickup truck and ripping it in half, "It was so easy to manipulate them!" he continued, "Because I didn't really have to do anything!" he shouted, as he threw both pieces at Naruto, who had dodged all of the previous projectiles. "All I did was push for the AI controlling the Trophaeum Tower to close! That made all of their drama, their acting, their friendship… fall apart."

Naruto stilled at his last words, focusing a glare at the crazy man and ignoring the flying pieces of the pickup truck that were about to hit him. "You…" he growled, focusing wind Kan directly onto the rear wheels of his ATs, causing the propellers to extend once again. "Asshole!" he exclaimed, executing a sweep kick, leading with his right leg, pushing as much Kan as safely could onto the bottom of his ATs to make them spin faster, the Propellers creating a wind wall in the form of a small tornado to form in front of him, blocking the vehicles from reaching him as well as cause water droplets to hover in mid-air. "Take this!" he cried out, continuing his spinning motion and kicked out with his right leg, the water droplets forming into needles and flying at the direction of the Gundam at the same time that the tornado flew towards his opponent, dragging not only the flying pieces of the truck with it, but the debris that had built up over the past hour.

Seeing the man attempt to avoid the attack by flying over the tornado, Naruto drew wind into his hands and onto his AT propellers, jumping above the Gundam and behind the tornado and slammed his fists into the back of the suit, breaking one of the wings and releasing a pulse of air, causing it to careen into the tornado and smash into the other objects flying around inside.

Watching the Gundam get battered by the debris, as he fell, Naruto landed in the center of the tornado, hovering over the ground. Realizing that there were unconscious people that might have been dragged into the technique, Naruto began spinning in a counter-clockwise direction, at that same time that he tried slowing the tornado down, hoping that he would be able to slow it down and eventually halt it. "Dammit… that wasn't good idea. These people…" He muttered, watching his cyclones slow down. Seeing things start to fall, Naruto flipped himself onto his hands and executed another spin, similar to the Mizu Kamikiri earlier, still going counterclockwise this time with his knees bent and the propellers facing upwards and outwards in order to generate a buffer just in case something decided to fall on him. _'Come on!'_ he shouted mentally, as he continued spinning, watching the tornado continue to slow down, _'almost there…'_ he continued, prolonging the rotation, hoping that he wouldn't tire out before he got crushed by something. Finally exhausted, his arms tired from the effort of spinning and maintaining him and his weight and rotation, Naruto toppled over just as the last portions of debris fell onto the ground, _'Come on, get up! I have to get out of here,'_he mentally berated himself, picking himself up with shaking hands.

"Oh? You've done well, Naruto-kun." Rinta's voice called out, causing Naruto to look up and curse at the sight of the Gundam hovering above and before him. "Sadly, from what I've seen… you've forsaken the Wind, Naruto-kun. You can't be the Sky King without the wind." Rinta explained, causing Naruto to snort.

"What was that then," he grunted pulling himself upwards into a standing position, "If that wasn't wind?"

Rinta merely laughed as his cockpit opened, showing his face once again, "That wasn't wind anymore, Naruto-kun."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto exclaimed, hovering over the ground as he added pressure to his ATs, causing them to allow him to hover, "That was clearly wind!"

"No, Naruto-kun…" Rinta chuckled, shaking his head as if making fun of a small child's ideas, "That… wasn't wind anymore. That was a tempest."

"You're not making any sense!" Naruto growled, digging his feet into the ATs and hovering even higher off the ground. "By mere definition, a tempest is a violent wind or storm!"

"I'm not talking about wind in a physical, material sense, Naruto-kun." Rinta admonished, causing Naruto's eyes to narrow. "The wind inside you is practically complete. You've achieved most of your dreams, it seems. I don't have use for you because of it."

"So you're just going to let me go?" Naruto asked warily.

"Why? Should I not?" Rinta retorted, "I mean, unless you wish to help me in my goal of finding the best Sky King."

Naruto merely shook his head, trying to find the words to reply, "I…"

"You probably agree with the fact that I wish the person to achieve the Title and Regalia of the Sky has the correct properties, but you don't like the way I'm going about it, do you?" Rinta guessed, seeing Naruto's hesitance in answering.

Nodding, Naruto replied, "Yeah… I won't stop you, Rinta. But I won't help you either."

"It's all I could ask for, oh Tempest King."

Naruto chuckled at the name, Naruto flew up in front of the Gundam's cockpit, "Temptest King? We'll see, Mr. Rinta Minami. But know this… I will be watching not from the sidelines, but from near the center of this storm you're creating. I don't care much for the people here just yet, but if it gets out of hand… if it hurts the people I care for, I will step in and crush whoever is causing it, regardless of their ambition or how they relate to your goals."

Rinta laughed at that, "Agreed, Naruto-kun. You won't attack or interfere in my plans without due reason unless the people you care for are harmed. Fair enough." Nodding, Naruto turned away, only to feel pain in the back of his head and his vision to fall into darkness. "Silly boy, never turn your back on someone that you don't know." Rinta admonished the teen who'd been struck by his Gundam's fist. "I would have let you go… but I can't have you rising to the top just yet, kid." He stated as he removed the ATs that adorned the unconscious blonde's feet. "If you wish to rise to the top… you'll need these, won't you?" he whispered, eyeing the Black and Orange ATs before he removed the wheels from them. "Well, you'll have to find them." He told the unconscious teen, placing the wheels in a compartment beside him.

* * *

**- On top of the Tower and the Trophaeum –**

**_December 14, 2000 : 9:38 P.M._**

Watching her fellow Tuners pick up the broken and bleeding bodies of Sleeping Forest, Ine chanced a look at Rika, only to look away at the glare sent her way.

"You… you knew about this." Rika growled, her fingers twitching with the need to wrap around Ine's throat.

Ine looked back at her, knowing that now wasn't the best time to provoke her, yet, she had to tell her the truth, "Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because... I'm seceding from Sleeping Forest. The other Tuners and I had decided to form our own group. One that is completely neutral. We've decided to call ourselves the Tool Toul To." Ine explained.

"I don't care about that," Rika growled, moving closer and poking Ine in the chest, "Why did you not tell either me or Naruto."

"Oh? I was going to have Simca tell him, but she'd already told him about it."

"We knew there was going to be a huge attack on the Tower. That there was a chance that they were going to argue… But to this extent, Ine? Did you know about this?" Rika shouted, drawing the attention of everyone around them, only to receive a slap from Ine. Stunned, she turned her face back to Ine, whose countenance was drawn into an emotionless mask, causing her to step back in fear.

"Don't you dare, Rika." She stated coldly, her eyes glinting with a promise of pain, "I knew they may have argued. May have had a little fight. But I didn't know they would take it this far. To maim each other…" she trailed off, looking at the body of Spitfire, "Like you, I had hoped that Sora and Kilik would have been able to settle their differences." She sighed, looking back to Ine. "They were best friends. The people we've counted on, but they've taken it too far. That's why I, Simca and Rune are ceding from Sleeping Forest and making our own group… I don't want to have to choose sides, Rika. They're my friends… all of them." She finished, her voice barely audible over the calls for certain tools or anesthetics.

Nodding in understanding, Rika whispered, "I think I might do so as well. I'm sorry, Ine."

Ine merely shook her head, "It's fine, Rika. It's understandable. This night has been hard on all of us."

"Did anyone reach the Tower before it closed?"

"No. Kilik had called upon the police and some other Gravity Children and Riders that we didn't know about to halt their progress."

"At least that much went alright tonight." Rika finally said, turning away and jumping up the plates that cluttered the top of the Tower as she started making her way back to where she had left Naruto.

Seeing this, Ine called out, "Aren't you going to go and see how they're doing?"

Shaking her head, Rika shouted back just as she reached the top of the Tower, "I'm going back to check on Naruto-kun."

"Good luck!" Ine yelled as Rika disappeared from sight, before whispering, "Hopefully, you won't need it."

* * *

**- Rooftops, across the city from the Trophaeum Tower –**

**_December 14, 2000 : 9:39 P.M._**

Naruto slid across the rooftops, his broken ATs slung on his shoulder by the shoelaces. "Dammit. I let down my guard!" he scolded himself as he executed a ninety-degree turn with pinpoint accuracy, "Why?" he shouted at the sky, only to receive an answer from inside himself.

**_"It's because you couldn't help but trust the man."_** Baxter answered.

_'What?'_ he shot back angrily, almost mistiming a jump and making him stop once he landed on the other side.

**_"He said, and I quote,_****'You won't attack or interfere without due reason unless the people you care for are harmed,' "**

_'So?'_ he asked, _'what about it.'_

**_"Think about it."_** Was his only answer, before the link cut off… leaving him with his question unanswered.

"What the fuck." He grumbled, shaking his head.

_'Whatever. I'll figure it out. And without your help!'_ he shouted inside his mind, not caring if his new tenant heard him or not. Wiping his hair out of his eyes, he looked around for some of the landmarks that would point him towards the Tower, and made his way to the closest one he remembered.

* * *

**- Rooftops (what else?), On the way back to Naruto –**

**_December 14, 2000 : 9:54 P.M._**

"Fuck!" Rika shouted, dodging a kick made by the weird cloaked man that had chasing her two blocks ago. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"The Regalia, Miss Noyamano." The voice coldly replied, revealing his ATs for the first time, showing a familiar set of ATs.

"Kilik?" she asked, incredulously, before noticing the blood that had been present on the ATs themselves, as well as the jeans that were worn on top of them. "No… where's Kilik? What did you do to him?"

The man merely buffed his fingernails on his cloak, "He's been disposed of, just like you are."

"Che…" she scoffed, readying herself, "Big talk. Care to back it up?" she taunted, warily eyeing the figure in front of her.

"No."

"Then how will you get them?" she asked, preparing for an attack.

The man merely pointed behind her, "They're here to take them back, Miss Noyamano."

"What?" she shouted, spinning around, just in time to see the Man's fist pass by her head. Quickly pushing back, she elbowed him in the stomach, sending him through one of the office building windows that they were passing. "Che. Amateur." She stated, passing by the building and rushing off towards the area she felt Naruto's presence.

"Amateur?" the man's voice asked from beside her, causing her to stop on the following rooftop.

Seeing him look unharmed, standing nonchalantly in front of her, a calculating look overcame her features, before it lightened and she replied, "Okay… not an amateur." Only to be knocked out with a blow to the back of her head.

"Oi, oi!" the man who was talking with her shouted, "Why?" he shouted, pointing at the person who knocked her out. "It was about to get interesting!"

"Reports are saying that the man designated as 'NU-01' is headed this way. Our orders were not to be seen by him, or to come in contact with him." He sent a glare at the other man, "You know what happened the last time someone disobeyed orders… Gabriel hasn't been the same since. And you've only got one strike left."

"I'm sorry, Miss Noyamano." The man said sadly, placing her beside the door of the roof they were standing on. "But orders are orders. And I can't fail… not this time, when I haven't accomplished all I need to." He whispered, smashing her ATs and taking the Regalia Cores. Flipping open his phone, he called the only number present on the list, and spoke into it. "I have them."

_"Good. Bring them back to the lab, immediately."_ The voice ordered, before closing the line.

The man in the cloak merely shook his head as he dashed away, "I'm sorry." He whispered, inaudible due to the wind. "Let's go, partner." he declared, the wind throwing back his hood and revealing long hair, the color indistinguishable in the dark.

Shadowing his partner, he didn't bother with a reply.

* * *

**- On top of the practically demolished Parking Building –**

**_December 14, 2000 : After Rinta knocked Naruto unconscious._**

**_"Location: Trophaeum Tower, B.C. Lab Number Zero… proceed?"_** Rinta glanced back at the unconscious form of Naruto and laughed softly to himself, before closing up his cockpit and inputting newer coordinates for the Gundam to travel to.

**_"Location: Lab B.C. Lab Number Seven… proceed?"_** the AI asked, as he pressed a button, extending a secondary pair of wings as he jettisoned the first pair, causing them to lodge or smash into several vehicles, causing them to explode.

"Whoops…" he chuckled, watching the explosions, "Correct… Proceed. Let's bring this boy to his new home." He whispered, eyeing a compact disk that was ejected from his left side.

"Hey, kid… I've wanted to find you for so long, you know?" he sighed, twirling the disk through the hole in the middle, "The original wind king. Even closer to the title of Sky King, and with a higher chance of obtaining the Sky Regalia than Sora. The guy who taught Sora himself!" He shook his head, "But you don't have the drive that you once did. You're of no use to me as a Sky King. You're beliefs and ideals clash too much with mine, but I could've worked around that. The problem was… you've practically completed your dreams," He stated, before chuckling, "I need someone who hasn't completed theirs just yet. And in addition to that, you didn't even let me elaborate on my explanations, kid."

The AI interrupted his monologue, **_"I have visual of the Trophaeum Tower now, Rinta-sama. The interference has died down."_**

"Alright, Bring it up. Main Screen." He ordered, the main screen switching to a view of of Ine and Rika, along with several other Tuners, that gathered the injured members of Sleeping Forest, and bring them towards their hospital ward. "It seems," he sighed, "that Sora has failed. At the very least, I've delayed you and your Rika-chan just enough to keep you from interfering."

Glancing over at a shot of Naruto, who was groggily getting up from his position in the middle of the parking building, he muttered, "Be grateful that I didn't need to kill you to be of use to me, kid. Otherwise, I'd be shoving your consciousness into that body I've prepared for you." He sighed, "If I did that, though, the fact that you've achieved your dreams would clash with the inbuilt programming and override anything I've set. But no matter." He smirked, once again eyeing the disk in his hands, "With this data… I should be able to replicate your personality and your potential, without the troublesome and annoying effects that you ." Before bringing up several pictures of children that had, what he deemed, Sky King potential. "They will do nicely," he stated, before focusing upon a picture of Inari's son, Ikki, climbing the Radio Tower from a couple of months ago, "But this one, he has the desire… the heart, the dream. But will he have what it takes to become the next Sky King? The son of the man who doesn't know I'm his brother?" he mocked.

**_"We've reached our destination, B.C. Lab Number Seven, Rinta-sama."_** The AI called out, before opening the hatch and exposing him to the cold night air once again.

Seeing that he reached his destination, Rinta grinned, as he landed the Gundam lightly so he didn't leave any dents in the floor. "What do you think, Maelstrom-kun? Is he?" he asked the disk and the AT wheels as he shut down the Gundam, having it descend to its knees and allowing him to jump off of it and land without much trouble. Walking towards the only entrance to Lab from the hangar, Rinta called out to his A.I. "Noriko! Start up the memory input and personality modification programs!"

**_"At once, Minami-sama."_**

"We've got a lot of work ahead of us." He declared, looking at the items in his hands, "But these will help us quite nicely. They may be the very thing I've been searching for all of this time."

* * *

**- Chapter 8: End -**

* * *

******- Post-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

I would usually slave over correcting the Chapter... but after losing all that hard-earned double chapter... I had to cut it down. I was going to have all of these flashbacks... yes, you heard me... flashbacks in between scenes or fights... and, well, I couldn't do that again. I was just lucky i saved a small bit of it on my fanfiction account, so that I didn't take even longer to rewrite my chapters. Anyways... that's pretty much it. I couldn't bring myself to go over the chapter, so please, tell me if I put something down that didn't seem right.

But in the two weeks since I last updated... wow. Just wow, the Manga is going back in time... so** FLASHBACKS!** I don't mind these though, it shows Kaito and Gazelle. And a GUNDAM!

As for Naruto's hair? I posted a link to his, as my girlfriend stated, 'bishi moment.' and I have to agree. His hair pwns. I wonder why he just doesn't move his headband to somewhere else. Like over his crotch to prevent low blows. Or over his heart, to prevent piercing... and it's symbolic, lol.

* * *

**_Timeline:_**

* * *

AFK 155

August 25 – Naruto, age 7, almost 8. Kushina is killed by Root, on order of Danzo w/support from Utatane and Homura; Naruto's memories Sealed.

AFK 156

Naruto, age 9. Naruto regains a somewhat stable personality. Able to move and talk, albeit, like a small child would act. Meets Ichiraku Teuchi and Ayame (a year later, officially, in his mind, recognizes them as his family).

AFK 163

September 8 – Orochimaru unknowingly releases memory/mind-seal on Naruto; Naruto finishes the job that Orochimaru started and removes the 5-element seal.

September 10 – Chunin Exam third round preliminaries. Naruto Pwns Kiba.

September 23 – Kyuubi leaves Naruto with a 'Kage Bunshin'-type being to make sure Naruto wouldn't know of his disappearance and summons the Shinigami, who is revealed to be Tsukuyomi, who is being punished by Amaterasu. Kyuubi travels to the A.G. Reality and sets out to modify 'Maelstrom's Body.' To fit Naruto.

October 8 – Chunin Exam Finals. Kyuubi comes back, receives his 'Mental Kage Bunshin' and offers new life to Naruto. Naruto accepts.

Time cut off, will create other story based on events with Kyuubi at a later date.

* * *

As for the time in the afterlife… I believe that it's all there. It was merely reflection that happened there. Nothing of great significance, in relation to this story (as of right now) happened there.

* * *

1981

Minami Inari gets his best friends, Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, who would have been unable to bear children normally, and if they did, would have been a life-risking task for Kushina… to donate their genes to the Gravity Child Program.

Kushina and Minato die two weeks later, after they 'concieve' Naruto, on their way to Hawaii for their delayed Honeymoon, only naming their first-born son and now knowing whether or not it would have been a son.

Inari throws himself into his work, sacrificing everything he had for his friends' wishes, including his own dreams.

1989

Naruto falls into a coma after receiving injuries during training. Inari devotes most of his effort to reviving Naruto, leaving Naruto's siblings with less attention than they used to.

1993

Kyuubi arrives and starts 'messing' with Maelstrom-Naruto's genes and physiology to bring it into roughly the same range as Unsealed-Naruto's.

Inari meets Yuri, eventually marries her at a winter wedding.

Unknowns take Kushina and Minato's genes, 'giving birth' to Mikan.

1995

Minami Yuri gives birth to Itsuki "Ikki," the main protagonist of Canon Air Gear.

Minami Inari finds out about stolen Genes, vows to find out about them.

Inari quits his job as co-head of the Gravity Children Project. Moves into the Trophaeum Tower with Yuri and Ikki, inside an apartment and attached lab he'd created in secret.

1995

Inari finds culprit, kills him.

Inari drops Naruto off at a hospital that Makigame Ine was studying at, having her watch over him.

'On the Run,' but hiding under their noses.

1996

Inari finds out about changes in Naruto's body, is amazed, yet worried about situation.

Information about the gears, or 'Air-Trecks,' as they come to be called, comes out.

1997

Kyuubi leaves 's body, body goes completely comatose.

Inari puts him into a cryogenic freezer, hoping to find a cure one day.

Reveals to Spitfire, Kilik, Simca and Mikan their parents' graves and of their fate.

1998

Large-scale production and release of Air-Trecks, including parts and accessories.

Rinta appears in the labs, posing as Inari.

List of 'to be scrapped' gravity children given out.

Gazelle's disappearance.

Inari reveals to Naruto's siblings, his location.

1999

Inari hands over Itsuki, Shiraume, Mikan and Ringo to the Noyamano Family. (Rika's parents are still alive in this story)

2000

Mid-November,

Kilik takes Sleeping Forest, without Rika, but with Sora (space) "Nike" to Inari's secret lab. Moves the body to hospital now attached to the Tower

Two weeks later,

Naruto wakes up, receives mental overload, meets Baxter.

Goes on to find Inari's lab. Finds out about happenings from Inari's and Yuri's "last message," finds Rika.

Kilik confronts Sora for the First time.

Next day,

Naruto meets Ringo and Mikan, have a nice day, ending with Naruto once again, falling unconscious.

Rika decides to go out with Naruto.

A week later, Naruto talks to Blackburn, Dontores and Spitfire, as well as Simca

Two weeks later, shit hits the fan.

* * *

I'll be cleaning this up eventually, but for now... it'll have to do. Sorry if it's not enough for you readers and god of stuff... but I can't really focus right now.

For news on chapter updates, just check my profile. It would normally be a weekly to a week-and-a-half gap between chapter posts, but after this setback... we'll see. :(

**Anyways, thanks for reading.**

**Until next time,**

**Margulide**


	9. Picking up the Pieces: Interlude

**Disclaimer: If only I owned Naruto, Air Gear, I'd be rich! Well, much richer than I currently am, which is actually quite poor... But I could mess around and do a crossover for real… in an actual manga… where I can just put pictures and words and people would buy it because it's awesome… Too bad I don't though. Both Masashi Kishimoto and Ogure Ito do.**

'**_Thoughts.'_/**_'Thoughts'_ / **'or **conversations **between **Naruto **and **Kyuubi**/**Baxter **while **not **in **the **mindscape'**

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

_"Conversations through a phone."_

**_"Amaterasu/Computer AIs."_**

**"Messages through electronics."**

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" /**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

* * *

**- Pre-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

**(O)0oO(-0-)Oo0(O)**

**BEARRIE EEMPOURTANTZSS! (Kinda)**

**Hmm… writers block, and what my girlfriend says is a combination of the awesomely awesome Bioware Products and 'overclocking' my mental facilities and feelings as I focused on this story: makes me update this story roughly a month late… past when I said I would. **

**It also didn't help that Ogure Ito practically just shoved a bunch of 'Flashbacks' in my face and said, "Here, try and put this on for size."At least I got some shit down in this AU/Crossover of the Air Gear Universe. Not only was Minami Rinta somehow involved with a Noyamano, but my suspicion of Gazelle being related to Lind/Akito/Agito in more than just their memories and hair came true… though not in the way envisioned it… Damn Kaito getting Gazelle. Damn Gazelle being shot in the head. Of course… that may or may not happen/ have happened in here. Whether the first or the second depends on whichever idea calls 'shotgun' in my mind. Another reason for the delays is the lack of Epic!Computer in my possession. I'm doing all of my writing at school in between classes… and maybe during, if my friends allow me to bum their portable!computers off of them.**

**I would like to blame my lack of updates on the fact that I was intrigued by what Ogure Ito would do with his Kaito/Gazelle arc, but to be honest... as is shown before the paragraph above, It's actually a whole slew of different things.**

**But seriously… my epicly epic Naruto creating Water Elementals and shit is now going to look like I'm a freaking Biter. And I don't want to do that. But at least I did get that out there in the first place, so you can't call me on something like that XD. True, it wasn't something like what Sora and Sora did, but Naruto made it from the Rain… they needed to be on the fucking ocean/sea. So eat that, Ogure Ito :P **

**I was going to post a poll to decide on where the story direction will go. Because, honestly, along with all of the above 'reasons,' I really was running out of steam on where I was going to shove this story... relatively speaking. BUT! With help from black-white-rose, who is writing The Forgotten Road... I've gotten back on track. Don't expect weekly updates like what I used to do before my huge pause, however, but bear with me. I did get an interview, and hopefully a job soon so... yeah. Maybe I can get a new computer, even if it's a tiny 10" screen one. It's still better than having to bum one off of random friends who're afraid I'm going to infect their computers with flash-drive viruses. **

**Expect updates that won't take two months this time. Although, amount of what is written per chapter may decrease. I'm trying to get back into my groove and if I can't pull off 15k chapters like I have been, It's just lack of stuff that I'm able to write. I'll attempt to keep it past 5, which I can comfortably write. **

**So yeah... the chapter and a half that I had written up for events past this chapter will eventually make their way into the story as flashbacks. Just giving a heads up for people that know I had at least 6k written for my story during the lull in my posting.  
**

**Please, try to sort through the babbling,**

**And thanks for reading this long note, **

**-Margulide**

**(O)0oO(-0-)Oo0(O)**

**black-white-rose - **Thanks for helping me out with my problems regarding this story, Thanks for the suggestions as well.**  
**

**chm01 – **Why, yes, Naruto did have another set of those regalia on him. And yes, Gundam!Rinta didn't know about it.

**god of stuff – **Yes, it's only a copy of his personality ONLY. Not his knowledge. It's not going to be an actual clone of Naruto, actually. He's just going to imprint the personality into the new person. Unlike Agito/Akito/Lind and his/their mother, Gazelle… the memories and abilities were not transferred directly from the first to the second… at least I think they were, from what Ogure Ito is implying in the actual manga. So no, no evil clone/twin in this fic. Besides… Naruto as evil is good and all, but even then he'll be honorable and have his own moral code anyway. Fuck the Rules, lol! Just like Canon Naruto and his own Nindo. And yes… the lack of epic fur-like hair would immediately point out that the clone is fail compared to the original. And yes, I would use local files and transport them to a flashdrive… but honestly, my lack of having Epic!Computer is another factor in slowing down my writing, updating, researching for this story. I actually had to settle for a pen and paper O_O. But yeah, I've been constantly updating the story to the FF site after every sit-down instead of every week… Thanks for the suggestion

**RoyalTwinFangs – **Well, I'm sorry to hear that… but to be honest… actually. I don't have anything to reply to that with. Other than a thank you for being honest. For other readers though, please, if it happens… say why you lost the 'drive' to read my story. Be it my lack of updating, or just certain twists and turns. It'll help me with my writing. Hopefully. If it's something I can fix. Thanks for reading though, RTS.

**SaCcHaRiNeD ChIld – **hehe, thanks. I do like to do that sometimes… let a story pile up and just read it at a later date. Although that sometimes killed me when I couldn't even remember when I last read it :P. As for my writing style… it confuses me sometimes too. Is it my commas or something? I do love them commas. Always did. I remember my 6th grade teacher drilling it into my head that commas were my best friends. And then I discovered the ellipses a few years later. Will Kilik hate Naruto? Have bad feelings? Depends, really on the events that follow. Too soon to reveal it now, anyways. As for Sora being a jack-ass. I didn't try to portray him like that, actually. :(… I did want him to have a dream that everyone would be able to 'fly.' That's his main reason for doing what he wants. Not power, although it does seem that way, huh? He did seem like an ass at some points, but for him, Naruto would have always been a sore point due to him being 'not as good' as him. He wasn't (in this story) slated to become Wind King after all. When Naruto came by and gave him the go-ahead to do what he wishes to the title, telling him he'll find his own road… that should lay down foundations for a less-antagonistic response towards Naruto whether it be in or out of his presence. Mainly because I think that pre-Dick!Sora was way better than the newer one.

As for Naruto not qualified to be Sky King, you Nailed it right on the head. He is an ideal Sky King Candidate based on his abilities and such, but he's not Rinta's Ideal Sky King. And for Ikki's feelings towards Naruto. To be honest, it's kinda funny. So far, I haven't even had Naruto meet Ikki officially (Present time in the fic), and usually either Ikki or Naruto are out of the house. So they haven't even met each other. Somewhat unbelievable, but then again, Ikki was given a pretty wide leash. At least it was indicated that way in canon. He'll meet Ikki eventually. Thanks for the review.

**Blacknova00 –** Honestly… I see what You're saying about this. It did seem that it was two stories, didn't it? I was trying to find a way to start introducing the Air Gear stuff while in the pre-transfer arc. It was the only way I was actually satisfied with the transition. Sorry about that, but it's just the way that came out. Eventually, though, the story will stop having those kinds of things. Although, occasionally they may pop up again but as things that would have been included in the chapter but weren't able to be added due to mood/settings.

**Lena7213 – **hehe, yeah. I hate it when shit hits the fan as well. As for the cliffhanger? It wasn't even that severe, really. That bit with Minami Rinta at the end wasn't too much of one, was it? Ugh… it was more of a foreshadowy thing, really. And, to be honest, I didn't mean to stop there. I was going to update the story really quick. But as you can see, it's quite late. No, Naruto's wheels are not made of seals. The seals are merely added onto them, allowing him to do more than they usually would. As for Ikki helping… that's for a later date :P He's still quite young.

**Cosmic-Radiance, zer0123, Awaikage Kitsune, Umbra8191, dragoon95, kail, Silber D. Wolf, sh8ad8ow – Thanks for the reviews and P.M.'s guys and gals. Thanks to everyone else for reading, favoriting and/or alerting.**

**(O)0oO(-0-)Oo0(O)**

**Any questions and/or Concerns, please leave a review... or a p.m.**

**Any inconsistencies that appear in the chapter below should be immediately reported to me so that I could check over it and/or correct/clarify it.**

**I Usually write, read, and research this all by my lonesome… with occasional help from my brother or my girlfriend when I can't stand doing so for the Nth time.**

**Again, special thanks to black-white-rose, who got me off my ass in terms of where I wanted to go with the story.**

**Not to my usual standards in terms of postage, but I needed to get this out of the way if I wanted, in any way, to continue the story.  
**

* * *

ACL: 7,144 (Word Length- from FF dot Net)

Posted: February 1, 2011

* * *

**Maelstrom's Road**

**Ch 9…**

**~Picking up the Pieces: Interlude~  
**

* * *

**- Chapter 9: Start -**

* * *

**- More Rooftops –**

**_December 14, 2000 : 10:22 P.M._**

Naruto frowned as he slid on the sides of the buildings on the way to the Tower to avoid the fighting on their tops or down on the streets. This really wasn't his day. Not only did he get owned by a man in a Gundam, but it was in the worst way possible. _'Dammit… all of that and I get taken out because I was careless…' _he scolded himself, his eye twitching at the memory as he grabbed a protruding flagpole, swinging himself from it, propelling him higher and faster than he was going, allowing him to land onto the next building which was devoid of fighting before he stopped and took note of the events around him. There really was no way for him to get to the Tower faster unless he could find another set of ATs. Sliding, as he decided was all well and good, but to be honest, using ATs was just better. Fiddling with the broken ATs that hung over his shoulder, he peered through the darkness, trying to find an area where there were any Stormriders present, only to catch sight of two figures on ATs, both cloaked in what looked like black leather, moving away from a point to his left. One of them was carrying what looked to be AT wheels that looked similar enough from the distance. _'Might as well go check it out… Hopefully, they left some of the ATs in that area intact.' _he thought, before he jumped onto a wire connecting the building he was standing on and the one closest to the direction they left from. _'At least it isn't raining in this part of town.'_

* * *

"What the hell?" Naruto muttered, looking around at the area where they had obviously stopped. "There aren't any signs of fighting or anything like that." he spoke to himself, turning back so he could get back on his way towards the Tower before he turned and caught a glimpse of a certain shade and length of burnished red that he'd gotten familiar with over the past month,around the corner. "No..." he whispered, memory flashing back to the the wheels that the two men were carrying. "That can't be right. She's way stronger than pretty much everyone I've seen during my stay here."

**_'Unless she was taken out from behind, Naruto.'_** Baxter spoke up from inside his mind, making him realize exactl

"Not possible." He whispered back, before he turned the corner, finding himself looking down at the unconscious Rika. Quickly kneeling down beside her, he checked for any sign of injuries that would indicate exactly what happened to her.

**_'I suggest checking the back of her neck or head, Naruto. That would be the quickest and most efficient way to take her out.'_** Baxter snickered before adding, **_'Kinda like you, kit.'_**

Eye twitching at the remark, Naruto felt the back of her head, finding a bump and looked over the rest of her body before he sighed. "At least she hasn't been touched other than that blow to the head."

**_'I'd suggest bringing her to the hospital.'_**

_'If you don't remember, I don't know where the hell the hospital is!' _Naruto shot back, annoyed at the fact that his tenant decided to bug him now, of all times.

Either oblivious or deciding to carry on, Baxter suggested, **_'Ignoring the fact that you know Hospitals usually have a big red cross somewhere on them, bring her to Ine then. She should be able to help.'_**

_'Duh! What did you think I was going to do!'_ he replied drily, ignoring the statement about red crosses and hospitals.

**_'You were going to run around like a headless chicken.' _**Was the answer in a matter-of-fact tone.

Snorting, Naruto unsealed a calligraphy pen and a sheaf of paper from a seal he'd applied to his wallet, quickly applying drawing a storage seal and adding Kan to it to keep his ATs. _'Right.'_ he retorted, picking her up bridal-style as he began adding Kan to his feet. "As if," he muttered, kicking off the ground, heading in the direction closest to the tower, only to curse loudly as the rain started falling, heavier than it was by the parking lot area.

* * *

**- Makigami Ine's Office - The newly appointed headquarters of the Tool Toul To -**

**_December 14, 2000 : 10:49 P.M._**

Makigami Ine wasn't one for feelings of foreboding and such. Not because they were 'superstition' and things like that. But because she didn't like the fact that they appeared… and that they always meant that something bad was going to happen. Or had already happened, and she was going to be the receiver of bad news. Sadly, it had happened recently, preluding the situation she had on her hands. Quickly sending Rune to watch over Spitfire, she went over the files of each of the newly inducted patients.

Takeuchi Sora, 'Sky' : muscles shredded below the knee and the Achilles tendons severed on both legs. The tendons, however, looked like he had severed them himself. She shook her head at the information, trying to erase the implications from her mind due to the incredulous-ness of the idea before she focused onto the rest of their friends' files, trying to draw her attention away from Spitfire's diagnosis sitting a few feet away from her.

Raimaru Kuroi 'Blackburn' : received third degree burns to the arms and the upper chest, which should have been impossible, due to the way his regalia was built but… not only that, but he received, like Sora, cuts to his Achilles tendons. However, the damage wasn't as severe. The most severe damage he received were the burns. Although there were these suspicious marks that looked like explosions of an unknown origin that pervaded the areas where he received the burns.

Fubatsu Enkou 'Dontores,' : both arms broken, received lacerations across both of his arms, as well as a heavy scar that went across his body. The cut starting from below the ribs on the left side, and went diagonally upwards, cutting its way to his right shoulder. The cut was deep but thankfully, it wasn't deep enough to cause damage to his organs, only dealing damage that would restrict him from any heavy activity for a while. Like the previous two, he received damage to his Achilles tendons, but out of the three so far, the damage to his was the lightest, which should only cause slight aches until they're able to heal them fully.

Takatsume Gachan 'Falko,' : like Sora, Falko received severe damage to his legs, most of it due to blunt force, the damage done just above and below the knees. Not only that, but he received a puncture wound right above the left side of his collar bone, and exiting through the back, damaging his shoulder blade. He also received another pair of puncture wounds on his legs, the left one cracking the femur and the right one going through his thigh. Unlike the previous four, however, Falko did not receive any damage to his tendons.

Shaking her head at the information, Ine moved over and picked up the file with the name, Enkousen Dageki. "Spitfire," she mumbled, before opening it. From the list of injuries compiled by Rune, Spitfire had received damaged tendons on his left leg as well as multiple miniature explosions across his body, something that she saw when she was looking at Blackburn. Eyes narrowing at the coincidence, she picked up Blackburn's file and looked at her own notes, comparing them with runes. Looking at the data, she muttered one word as she glared hatefully at the sheets that lay in front of her. "Om." It looked like Kilik had even more support than she'd thought. Not only did he have people to fight with him, but Sora's group had been outmaneuvered. Kiliks' group had info and abilities that they hadn't gone against in a long time. Not only that, but Kiliks' group was methodical, showcasing his tactical skills and their usage of the element of surprise. She sighed, kneading her forehead with her hands in an attempt to ease the headache that was slowly building.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by knocking coming from her window which closed due to the stormy weather that was drenching the whole town. Picking up a tranquilizer gun, she tiptoed her way towards the windowsill, waiting to see if they would knock again, only to pale at the sound of a person attempting to pick the lock. And at that, she quickly pulled the window open, dragging the person who was attempting to break into her office and then shooting them in the arm, back and leg with the tranq gun.

"G-gomen, Ine-chan. but... we need help." Naruto spoke from his position face down on the floor with Rika laying below him, with him receiving all three of the shots. "What's that you hit me with, anyways?" he asked, trying to turn himself around to see exactly what it was and failing. And before she could answer, he mumbled, "Actually. Tell me later... I'm sl-." as he slumped back onto the ground.

"Aww, shit." Ine mumbled, quickly closing the window to prevent more rain from coming in. "Guess I'm going to be pulling an all-nighter tonight."

* * *

**- Hospital Room 774, Tool Toul To Base –**

**_December 16, 2000 : 8:04 A.M._**

Naruto woke up calmly, leaving his eyes closed, sensing the sunlight that would surely cause pain to his still addled senses. Taking stock of his situation, he tried to remember what happened the last time he was awake, only to remember bits and pieces of what happened after he brought Rika to the Tower. _'What Happened?'_ he asked himself, wondering what happened after he tried picking the lock to the window, only for his musings to be interrupted as a loud blaring sound seared through Naruto's senses, making sit up and open his eyes wide in surprise, only for them to quickly slam shut at the bright light that invaded his sight.

"AHH! FUCK! THE LIGHT!" Naruto screamed, slamming his fists into face when he tried to cover his eyes with them. "AWW SHIT! MY FACE!" he yelled, rolling in his bed due to the pain he'd just inflicted on himself.

"You truly are a funny one, Naruto-kun." A feminine voice spoke out with amusement clear in her tone.

"Dammit, Ine-chan!" Naruto groaned, now in a fetal position, facing away from the light. "What the hell was that for anyway?" he asked, his voice muffled by his position on the bed as he rubbed at his face to soften the pain.

"You were awake for a few minutes and I needed to speak to you." She said.

"Couldn't you have… you know… kindly woken me up?" he asked, dejected at his treatment, pulling himself into a sitting position, shading his eyes with his eyes as he squinted, trying to regain his sight.

She snorted, replying, "I did. You just didn't notice it. So I had to resort to something I knew would wake you."

"What the hell was that anyway?" he grumbled, only to see a canister with a horn on top pushed in front of his vision, making him go cross-eyed at its closeness. "What's this?"

"An airhorn." She murmured, deciding that she wanted to see what would happen before she gave him any news. Discreetly activating the cameras in the room, she set her face in a more businesslike look.

"Airhorn, huh?" he asked, taking it from her hands and fiddling with it, "I don't think this thing can do something like that, Ine. I mean, what do I do with it?" he asked rhetorically, "Just push this button here and-" any further comment was blasted away by the sound the horn made, a loud blaring that wouldn't stop because in his shock, he kept his finger on the button.

Giggling, Ine set the cameras to copy the feed directly onto her personal computer and to create backups on three different drives and one on a hidden server. It was true she was a nurse, but that didn't mean that she couldn't mess with her patients or friends even, as Sleeping Forest had found out one practice day when she'd replaced their Regalia with fake ones that did completely random things. She still had videos of Sora jumping and landing flat on his face after 'activating' his regalia, Dontores' boombox playing classical music and Blackburn's wires tangling him up, causing him to slip and hang from an overhanging flagpole. A smirk grew at her reminiscence, 'Ahh, the memories.'

* * *

A while after the debacle with the Airhorn and getting dressed in a pair of khaki pants, shoes and a navy blue shirt, Naruto was being pushed down the hallway several floors down the building on a wheelchair by Ine. "What's this about, Ine? Can't you bring me to Rika-chan first? And why am I in a wheelchair?"

She poked the back of his head, coinciding with her reply "After this, we can go to Rika's room, No. 675. But you need to see this for yourself, and you're in a wheelchair because you need to be, Naruto. Even though you didn't receive heavy injuries… you still over-strained yourself last night."

"What do you mean, see this for myself?" he asked, only for them to stop in front of a set of double doors. He turned around in his seat, noticing her almost impassive face. Only with his time in Konoha, where he was able to gauge people emotions, was he able to see the worry and pain hidden behind her somewhat stoic facade. "Alright. We'll see this." He reassured her, before the doors opened, revealing several people in hospital beds. "Wha… no." he gasped, taking in the sight of his friends, "What the hell… did… did Kilik do this?" he asked with wide eyes, unable to comprehend the damage done to his friends and sibling.

"Sadly, yes, Naruto." Ine answered. "He'd gotten help from other people… people we both know."

"The other children." he stated, subdued.

"Yes. One of them was definitely Om." She spoke, a harsh tone overtaking the last word in her sentence.

"But it can't be." He hissed, "Kilik won't do this!"

Shaking her head, she answered dejectedly, "I couldn't believe it either, but the evidence shows that they did."

"What do I do, Ine?" he whispered, clenching his fists and drawing blood from the way his nails gouged his palms. "What do I need to do to fix this?" seeing her send him a questioning look, he grinned slightly, "I figured that if you wanted me here, there must be something I would be able to do."

Moving to his right after his admission, she tentatively spoke, "I came here to ask you… to allow me to synthesize a regeneration agent using your blood."

"What?" he asked, taken aback, "Mine? Don't they have it too?"

"It's different. Sure, they do have their own, but yours is more potent, and with it, we could alleviate most… if not all of the damage's side effects once they're healed."

Shoulders slumping, he thought it over. _'Baxter, what do you think?'_

Baxter replied in a brisk tone, noting the atmosphere, **_'What Makigame-hime is asking is possible when using your blood. However, Accumulated knowledge insufficient to predict reactions to the treatment.'_**

_'Thanks Baxter.'_ He mentally acknowledged, before looking back and into Ine's eyes.

"Are you sure about this? Is it possible to use this without any side-effects?" he asked, trying to find the answer in her eyes.

"I-I don't know, Naruto… I'm only asking because we've done all we can, and it's not enough. They'll live through it, but they won't be able to do things like they used to, or live like they used to. I mean, they'll be fine, but I can-" she rambled, only to be cut off by his patting her hand

"It's fine, do what you have to. Just make sure that they won't be affected negatively by this thing, okay?" He said, smiling, "I have faith in you, Ine. You were always the best at this kind of stuff."

"Thank you."

"It's fine, and you're welcome but do I have to do anything now, or would this kind of thing wait until later?"

"We have enough blood samples from you stored away from Dr. Inari's lab, which I thank you for revealing by the way." She spoke, her voice watery.

"Alright, I'll be going to Rika-chan's room now. I can find my way there myself." He said, turning himself around and leaving the room they were in. "You'll know where to find me."

"Thank you," She whispered, tearing up as she stood in the middle of the room as he left, allowing herself to cry once she was sure that no one would see her break down like this, "Thank you so much."

* * *

As soon as he was sure that he wouldn't get caught, Naruto quickly got up from the wheelchair. Not to say that it wasn't bad… but he preferred walking. Once getting up and taking a few steps, however, his eyes drifted back towards the wheeled contraption. _'Although… there are possibilities with this thing.'_ Smirking, he quickly got back in the seat and proceeded to make his way to the elevators. _'Scratch that… more than possibilities.'_ He thought, applying minimal amounts of Kan to the wheels through his hands as he breezed through the corridors, leaving skid marks around the corners and on the walls. '_Too bad I can't do this on the other floors though.'_

* * *

After his relaxing jaunt through the lower levels of the building, Naruto ditched the wheelchair by the elevator, with its wheels worn out from the things he had it do. Upon entering it though, his thoughts re-centered themselves on the whole situation with Rinta.

_'Baxter.'_ He mentally called out, making sure that his tenant was awake.

**_'Yes?'_**

_'Was there anything about that Rinta guy when you were with Uncle Inari?'_

**_'From what I've seen and experienced, kit, there were no indications or signs of any Minami Rinta. Even with Dr. Inari's mutterings as he worked or typed… there were no signals that would point to a Minami Rinta that exist.'_**

_'Anything on any databases?' _he prodded.

**_'You forget, kit, that I'm only your mental computer. Emphasis on the "your" I merely sort and access the information that you would experience in this body. There is no direct way for me to control this body, unless you specifically directed for me to do so. And without your presence, I was unable to. Therefore any and all information that I have are things that are things you've already known or heard about despite how much you didn't pay attention to the details surrounding them at the time.'_**

Hearing a ding that signified that he reached the floor Rika was on, he asked Baxter, _'So that's why your information was wrong about the tower when we last went there.'_

**_'Correct.'_** Baxter replied succinctly.

Stopping at the corridor, Naruto spotted Rika's room, at the end of the left side of the hallway and started in that direction. '_Before I let you go, however… I would like to know whether or not having you inside my mind would affect me in any way''_

**_'Of course. With me in here, kit, you would be able to access and retrieve memories and data at a much faster pace than you would otherwise. Is that all?'_**

Mentally frowning, he questioned again, _'That wasn't exactly what I was asking. What I meant was: does having you in my mind… affect my brain? With the amount of information that would be feeding both you and me, wouldn't my mind get crowded?'_

At that question, Baxter let out a snort, **_'Incorrect. Your question has validity however, but I should ask you this: "Did having Kyuubi and your parents in your mind take away from the information or processing speed that you had back in Konoha?'_**

Stopping in front of Rika's door, his eyebrows furrowed, trying to remember if it did. _'I don't believe so.'_

**_'Correct. The matter of fact is, It would be best if you had time to sit down for any in-depth explanation to take place due to the amount of variables that would need to be explored before you can extrapolate exactly what you wish to know.' _**

Nodding, Naruto placed his hand on the doorknob, _'I'll make sure to do that, Baxter. We'll continue this later.' _

**_'Very well, Kit.'_** Was the answer he received as he opened the door.

* * *

"Naru-kun!" was the immediate exclamation of Rika upon Naruto's entrance into her room. Ever since Ine left her, saying that she was completely fine, but that she'd be sore from the blow to the head for a few days... She'd been getting restless, deciding that if no one got to her room soon, she'd be getting out to find out exactly where her man was. "Where were you?"

Smiling, he quickly moved forward, giving her a small hug, careful to not aggravate anything he didn't notice last night. "How are you?" he asked, looking her over much to her amusement.

"Other than the blow to the head, which Ine said would be sore for a few days, I'd be fine." She smiled, squeezing him tightly, making him laugh, "I gave my parents a call yesterday," she continued, "they were worried since the news came out about the riots. But once I explained that I was in the hospital waiting for you, they said they'd put off any business things they had to do to take care of the girls." Pulling him down beside her, she asked, leaning onto his shoulder, "How'd you find me anyways? Ine said that you brought us in and that you were carrying me and that you didn't have your ATs with you."

"After you left, I beat those guys who were in our way. But as I was leaving, there was this guy in a giant robot suit-"

"Gundam." She corrected him.

"Huh?"

"Gundam. If it's a giant robot suit, it's a Gundam." She stated firmly, a huge fan of the series, especially after she was shown the Gundam Wing series by Mikan, who was an even bigger fan.

"Heh, that's what Don and Blackie said. Anyways, I had to fight this guy and by any chance, do you know a guy by the name of Minami Rinta?"

Frowning, she sat for a minute, her eyebrows knitting themselves together in concentration. "No… I don't know anyone by the name of Minami Rinta."

Accepting that, but noting that he should look it up later, he continued, "Well anyways, he went on about how he had candidates for Sky King and how… he wanted them to fight for that position, more or less."

"That's kind of brutal, isn't it?" she asked skeptically.

Snorting, he agreed. "Well, anyways, after a short fight, we talked, convincing me that he really wasn't my enemy. And I gave him my word that I wouldn't interfere or whatever, as long as the stuff he's doing doesn't affect people I know or care about… and that was that."

Letting a small smile come through, she poked him in the ribs, "I know there's more to that, Naru-kun."

"And then he knocked me out with a blow to the back of the head." he finished, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

Laughing she poked him in the ribs, making him shy away, "So we both get taken out by something like that."

"Well.. let me finish." He asked, holding her hands away from his ribs.

Giggling, she backed off, "Alright."

"Well, he broke my ATs after that, taking my wheels."

"Don't you have another set of those wheels?"

"Yeah." He agreed, "But I have other ideas for that, actually. I was thinking of either giving them to Mikan or finding someone like Simca or Ine to change it. But anyways, as I was on my way back, I passed these two guys in cloaks."

"What?"

"Yeah… I noticed that one of them was holding a pair of AT wheels… I'm sorry, but I didn't know that they were yours."

"It's fine. They were the ones who got me. I was focused on fighting one of them, but the other one came out of nowhere and hit me from behind. After that, the next thing I saw was this room."

"Anyways, I passed by that way, and I found you unconscious. Then I got us to Ine-chan." He finished, placing his arm over her shoulder. "That's all."

After a few minutes of silence, Rika noted a similarity to an event just before she met him and spoke up, "How'd you get around without ATs anyways?"

Mentally groaning at his carelessness, he turned to her, placing his fingers under her chin so he could look in her eyes. "Do you trust me?"

Resolutely, she answered, giving him a small smile, "Of course, Naruto. I do. Just as much as I do my parents and maybe even more. Why are you asking me this now?"

Sighing, he got up, before he pulled out several blank sheets of paper and a calligraphy brush and started writing down the seals for a privacy and nullification barrier seal combination. "Give me a few seconds and I'll answer as much as I could."

"What are you doing?" she started, peering at the quick strokes his brush was making over the six pages of paper, all of which were identical.

"Something to keep prying eyes out." He remarked, quickly applying each of the sheets of paper, one to each surface of the small, square room.

"How is that going to help?" she asked, eyeing the markings, before she caught his grin as he made a hand sign, activating the seals, and making the walls of the room glow.

His grin growing even wider at his success, he stated succinctly, "Privacy, Rika-chan." Before his face took a slightly more serious note, crossing his arms in front of his chest, "Do you know exactly what Uncle Inari was doing as part of his work?"

She answered, deciding that she'd let him get his questions off before she would have her turn, "Yeah… I know." her face took on a mischievous look, "They don't think I know, but Uncle had actually left a lot of research at his home and stuff. Not only that, but he'd mention his work to me. I just found out more after I joined Sleeping Forest, really."

"Did he ever mention me?"

"Several times, I'd see a paper with your name on it. Other than that, I'd catch him muttering about some Kushina or Minato's child. He did that a lot, so those names stuck out in my head."

"Okay. Do you remember the video that we saw in the Tower when I first met you?"

"Of course."

"Right." He muttered, wetting his lips as they'd suddenly gotten dry, wondering exactly how he was going to reveal to her his origins before realizing that he may as well… she was quite smart and she could find out more if she decided to look it up. "I'm not exactly Naruto." He began before he was interrupted.

"What the hell are you talking about, you're not Naruto!" she exclaimed, quickly standing up and poking him in the chest at every word. "I saw him, and you in that lab! They guys recognize you! What do you mean you're not Naruto?"

Rubbing his now sore chest, he answered, "I'm Naruto, but I'm also Maelstrom."

Dumbfounded, she stopped poking him, "That… doesn't even make sense." She stated flatly.

Frowning, he sighed, "Better just show you."

"How?" she asked before getting enraged at his actions, "This isn't some kind of lame attempt to break up with me, is it?"

Holding his hands up in front of him, he quickly said, "Of course not! I like you too much for that! Why would you ask that?"

Placated, she placed her hands on his shoulders before bringing him into a hug, "What is it?" she whispered into his ear, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Pulling away from her to look into her eyes, "Just… wait, watch, and understand." he whispered back, placing a Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind-Body Switch) based seal at the back of her neck, knocking her out. Picking her up, he placed her body onto the bed and covered her up.

**_'That wasn't the best way to go about things, you know.'_** Baxter intoned.

Snorting at the comment, Naruto removed the seals from the walls and ceiling. _'I didn't know how else to do this without a lot more time to plan it out.'_ He replied, before pulling a chair up to her bed and applying the partner of the seal to his forehead.

* * *

**- Unknown Location –**

**_Time: Unknown_**

Rika groaned, grabbing her head with her hands as she tried to sit up from her position on the floor. "What the hell was that?" she asked herself as she opened her eyes to get her bearings, only to find herself in the junction of what seemed to be an underground sewer complex. "Naruto!" she called out warily, "Where are you?" Biting her bottom lip at the lack of response, she looked around, trying to find a way out.

"Wait. I'm here." A voice called out behind her, causing her to turn around and jump at the sight of the person who'd called out.

"Naruto?" she asked warily, seeing him standing there, "What happened? Where am I?"

"We're inside my head."

At that answer, she started laughing, her voice echoing throughout the cavernous area. After a few moments, she stopped, seeing him still standing there, not laughing with her. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Yes." He whispered, holding a hand out to her. "Come. I'll show you exactly what happened."

Moving forward, she hesitated, as she looked at his eyes, a small frown beginning to show on her face. "Naruto… what are you doing… what are we doing here? Was it you who knocked me out?" she hammered out, her eyes taking on a steely glint, seeing his eyes lower at each accusation.

"I asked earlier if you trusted me." He said softly in response, struggling to meet her gaze, "You said that you did. And… after what I just did, I would understand how you might not… but I need to show you for you to understand. This is the only way I know how." He finished, staring at his hand which was still outstretched. "Will you… at least, trust me for now?"

Seeing his face still serious, his eyes showing how scared he was of her rejection, she smiled. Her eyes softening and answering his question as she took his hand with hers. "I did trust you. I still do."

"Thank you." He spoke gratefully, leading her down the hallway with the most light.

"Do it again though…" She warned him, tightening her grip on his hand. "and I'll take away what's most precious to you." She finished, implying the removal of his manhood.

Pausing for a second, he turned back to her, "I have no plans to do anything like that without warning… I do not want to lose you or my family. You have my word." He whispered, staring into her surprised eyes, responding honestly, "It's a promise of a lifetime, Rika-chan." He finished with a smile before turning away and continuing to lead her down the lit path.

Stunned at his proclamation, she let herself be led by him, going over his words several times in her mind. A smile blossomed on her face at the implications of his words, _'Promise accepted, Naru-kun.'_

* * *

**- Trophaeum Tower, B.C. Lab 0 –**

**_December 20, 2000 : 8:49 P.M._**

Minami Rinta wasn't a happy man at the moment. What had seemed to be a blessing turned out to be less than what was expected. Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto was very unpredictable, the fact that the recording of both his brainwaves and his actions showed that fact quite clearly. Instead of having one set of brainwaves that varied depending on the actions taken, like normal people whether they were Brain Chargers or Gravity Children or not… but Naruto had two. It wasn't only that, but any attempt to deconstruct the wavelengths only succeeded in failing horribly. The data he'd recorded wouldn't last forever either, and he'd wasted enough blank slates that this one attempt would be the last one. It was simply ironic that the last blank slate that would be allotted to this project before shelving it would be a blonde kid. Not only that, but he wasn't even one of the Tank-borne, as he'd started calling those… children.

He'd started with 'blank slate' gravity children. Logic would dictate with the processes they took, the process of applying the personality and recorded actions of another person would be simple. After the first two failures, where they'd incinerated the bodies upon failure. True, it was 'cruel,' as some would say, but honestly, what use would bodies in a vegetative state be. They were in a vegetative state long before he'd gotten his hands on them. He paused, putting his hand under his chin as he concentrated on that thought. Maybe there was a profit in that. Selling organs wouldn't be that difficult. It'd keep him afloat if something happened. Marking it down on his notepad, he continued where he left off, going over his notes to make sure he hadn't forgotten a process. Which, of course, he couldn't. He was fricking Minami Rinta, head of The Hermes Corp. He didn't make mistakes.

Anyways, after the failures with the Brain Chargers, he'd proceeded to apply the same process to the Gravity Children that he was able to take from some of the labs. Only to be met with failure as well. And over the next few days, the attempts were varied, using different control groups and different procedures. Eventually culminating in this last attempt. The boy was merely a failure since the beginning, a boy picked up off the street and used as part of a test group to check whether or not it would be possible to fuse the ideals and abilities of both the Gravity Child and the Brain Charger projects into one body. Exactly like the reports mentioned of Gazelle's child. But it was neither here nor there… this was the last chance for this project. He had other works to do, experiments to oversee, AT riders to observe. Walking over to the machine that would implant the boy with the brainwaves… he sneered, not liking the similarity of his 'brainchild' to that of his unassuming rival, Inari. Speaking of Inari, he'd have to see if his tasks groups had any more information on the man. He had to tie up all of the loose ends after all.

Rinta looked over the comatose blond boy that was lying in the capsule. "Pathetic." he murmured, picking up the display which showed him the brainwaves that he was feeding into the boy's brain. "Truly pathetic. You're not even worth the effort I've put into you." he yelled angrily, slamming his foot into the control panel that controlled the workstation.

**_"Anomaly Detected, Rinta-Sama. Incorrect Data Fluctuation has interrupted the procedure. Personality Transference: Failed. Subject of No Further Use."_**

"WHAT? What the hell is wrong with this piece of junk! What am I missing? There is nothing wrong with the recording of those brainwaves!" he shouted, kicking at the console again in his frustration.

**_"Acknowledged, Rinta-Sama. Proceeding deletion of any known recordings of this set of brainwaves."_**

Immediately realizing his mistake, he called out, "Cancel that order!"

**_"Acknowledging order, Rinta-Sama. Deletion protocols interrupted. Deletion Cancelled."_**

Snarling, wondering what else was going to go wrong today, he stared at the console, "File Status of 'NU-01 Recording."

**_"Data is corrupted. Status Irreversible. All other copies of the file are in the same state."_**

"Bring up saved copy of file. File Name: Backup of NU-01 Recording."

**_"Data is corrupted. Deletion Incomplete. Status Irreversible."_**

"What do you mean, this one is corrupted!"

**_"User: Rinta-Sama ordered deletion of any known recordings of this set of Brainwaves."_**

Slamming his fist into the glass overlaying the figure of the blond boy, he groaned in frustration. "Dammit!"

**_"Rinta-Sama. Should we proceed with the disposal of the body?"_**

Feeling particularly spiteful at the moment, he let out a sinister grin, "I know this should have worked, it's his fault this failed, all the variables determined from the previous control groups showed that he was the correct child despite his deficiencies. No, don't destroy the body. Dump the body at the Nara region perhaps his parents would like to find their son after all these years. After that, delete all data associated with this base." He ordered, before he added another as an afterthought, "I don't need anything else here and I don't need anyone to find this area. Destroy the base as well."

**_"Very well, Rinta-Sama. Have a good night."_**

"I better have." He grumbled to himself, putting on his coat and making his way to the hangar. "This day was bad enough already."

* * *

**- Hospital at Nara, Nara Prefecture –**

**_December 22, 2000 : 11:19 A.M._**

Takeda Manami stood at the corner of the room, staring at the body her son, comparing the face to a picture taken three years ago, a week before he was kidnapped. The hope of seeing her sunshine was everything to her. Especially since her husband, Yoshifumi, passed away a year after their youkou's disappearance due to heart problems. She told him that she knew they'd always see their son again. She'd always had a feeling that he'd be found. Their little boy would be twelve now. The same age of the boy on the bed. With the same sharp face and angular eyebrows. Not to mention the hair, an exact replica of her husband's when he was younger. Turning to the nurse that waited at the door, she smiled, giving a small nod. Receiving one in turn, the nurse closed the door behind her, leaving the matron and the child in the small, somewhat dimly lit hospital room.

Moving closer, pulling a chair next to the bed, she took her son's face into her hands, running her hands over it just to make sure. Make sure that it was real, that it wasn't a dream. That her sunshine was back. It didn't matter whether or not he'd been gone. Or what he'd been through. What mattered was that her youkou was back. Finally realizing that her son really was back, she took his hand in hers, and prayed that he would be okay. Her Yoshi was gone, but she'd gotten her youkou back. She couldn't cry. Not yet. She'd wait until he was awake before she would. He had to be okay. Only when she knew he was, would she finally relax.

* * *

**- Chapter 9: End -**

* * *

**- Post-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

**Hmm... I've finally written enough that I won't feel horrible about posting this chapter. I've elaborated upon stuff. And more stuff. Laid a few land mines... that sort of thing.**

**Once again, I apologize for the people who've gotten used to my 15k+ chapters. But honestly, it's kinda hard writing when you've got no direction. Well, let me rephrase that... less direction than what you were going with. I have written a couple of other chapters already. But I wasn't able to connect them with this one due to how I wanted to finish this arc off. And now, they may only pop up as flashbacks and that sorta thing. **

**And hmm... if someone's going to complain about how I handled Naruto telling Rika exactly what he went through... Ask yourself, 'How would I have handled this situation.' I couldn't figure it out, and I couldn't push it away either. The evidence was there, and Rika's a smart girl. She'd try to find out about it herself. And if he's keeping secrets... it's not a good thing in a relationship. I've seen a couple of them get rocky because the guy's being over-secretive, only because he had this awesome present for an anniversary or whatever, and vice-versa. **

**And as I was typing on my friend's laptop... he told me to mention to the readers to consider this as an interlude... Actually, that isn't a bad Idea :P  
**

Pretty much the reason I cam up with names for the AT. Riders. Sure, they picked their names and shit, but they'd need 'identities' for whenever they're working or doing actual stuff. Any worries about their names popping up inside 'regular' conversation shouldn't worry. They'll be referring to themselves by the names they've picked themselves. The names are for records and such. And running around without a last name is kinda weird.

Names are just as they are... Names. I mean, it'd be pretty weird for people to actually have a name like 'Spitfire' and have them be present on their paperwork. hehehe. That'd be funny.

**"First Name?"**

**"Spitfire."**

**"Really? Hmm, okay... Last Name?"**

**"Huh? I don't have one."**

**"Do you expect me to believe that? Is this a joke?"**

**"What! I don't know what' you're talking about!"**

**"I'm sorry then, sir, I can't allow you to apply at this institution. Come back whenever you have an actual name."**

Names in the story: if you could come up with some more realistic names than the ones that I've come up with... please send me a message/review and I'll see about them. Note, however... they picked their own names. Who's not to say they'd pick their own last names either? Look at Sora's and compare them to the guys below... that's all I have to say :P

Takeuchi Sora – All Inside _the_ Sky (at least I think it is… it makes the most sense of any translations I've seen)

Raimaru Kuroi – Perfect Lightning Black

Fubatsu Enkou – Steadfast Halo

Takatsume Gachan – Falcon's Talon Slam

Enkousen Dageki – Flame Wizard Strike

**Thanks for reading, **

**-Margulide  
**


	10. An Invitation? To What?

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto and Air Gear, I'd probably still be writing FanFiction and getting my ego smashed by all the awesome writers out there... But I don't. Well, I don't own Naruto and Air gear, which are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Ogure Ito, respectively.  
**

**'Baxter's Thoughts/words' / **'Thoughts' / _'Thoughts.'_

"**Conversations" /** "Conversations."

_"Conversations through a phone."_

**_"Amaterasu/Computer AIs."_**

**"Messages through electronics."**

**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" /**"Jutsu/Techniques/Tricks" **'or **emphasis **on **certain **words **in **a **sentence"

If none of those are followed, chats are usually marked by a person saying stuff, so there should be a rudimentary understanding on how to read a conversation at least to understand this story. ;)

* * *

**- Pre-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

**(O)0oO(-0-)Oo0(O)**

**-Margulide**

**(O)0oO(-0-)Oo0(O)**

**TheHumanWiki - **hmm, I'm not sure if I should... it was in first person... not mine, but it was Naruto's. I'm pretty sure it should have been clear somehow. *Frowns* I'll go check on it...

**chm01 - **hmm, you bring up many a good points. Some which may be addressed at a later time. But there will be some answers later on or even down there, in the chapter. Thanks for clarifying that bit about Mikan, but I was going to mellow her out a bit... in a good way, but still retain that awesomeness she usually shows in canon... hopefully I don't mess it up. As for him using the Gale Road... hmm, not sure quite yet. I'm still finalizing exactly what sort of 'road' he'll end up on, really. So we'll see, eh? And as for that last question... it will be shown, and if not taken from this chapter, will be shown soon. (Damn... I think it's too obvious then from my words, isn't it?)

**Lena7213 - **Ahh, thanks for clearing that up and no problem :). About the whole situation between Naruto and Rika... it was kinda a good lead-in, I think. It's not the ideal one, but, it works, huh. Thanks for the support, hope you enjoy this one :P.

**sh8ad8ow - **Thanks for those words, shadow (mind If I call you that?), but no, I don't have my own pc yet. But I do make time to bum one off my friends or head off to the Comp Lab, so it isn't bad. The story does have direction. It may take a bit longer to write each chapter because I want to maintain some sort of continuity, but hey, I'd rather have that than get spam flagging me because I messed up. :P

**ChronoMitsurugi -** aww, shucks, lol. Thanks for the review. As for how I view Simca... hmm, how do I put this? Yeah.. I guess she did get gypped. She is pretty cool, but hmm, I do like her character and personality, but I think she just 'acts' easy... and they're making her do 'some' stuff in the manga now... so we'll see. And that scene was just ridiculous in the anime, hehe. She made Ikki work for it, lol. And for the hair... I seriously agree with you. I do like it, that cute pixie look, but she's not technically the 'migratory bird' in my opinion without her awesome 'wing hair.'

Hmm, as for your views on Rinta... I guess I could see some of that. He wasn't actually planned. Heck, most of this story, sad to say, wasn't planned at all ever since it's conception. It was really just me running with an Idea. I've got more focus and direction now though, so you'll have to be the judge of that. Technically, one could be the Sky King without being a wind user. But they just said that the wind king/road has the easiest way there or something like that. Have to find that set of words again, but that was the gist of it. Hmm, I'd think that people wouldn't always be set in one sort of personality. Heck I'm generally a serious guy, but when I'm with my girl or with my siblings, I don't mind being messed with. That's what I was trying to convey. Hmm, going to have to do a bit more variety or something then :P.

As for the other stuff,the whole regeneration thing will be seen later. Heck, there'll be repercussions to the whole thing as well later on. As for how long later? we'll have to see. And technically, hew wasn't really going to 'ZOMG AWESOME!' all the time. Oh, he will be the best... well, one of... stiill haven't gotten that planned. But he will be practically untouchable. He was going to be, but there were mitigating circumstances, don'tcha know? :P Shit happens, and now he has to deal with his first pair of regalia being gone as well as the humility and lesson from being pwned so easily. hahaha, I guess he does seem to be kinda worthless, huh? But well, I hope to rectify that soon enough.

Thanks for the review though. Hope I meet your expectations once again

**Thanks for the reviews and P.M.'s guys and gals. Thanks to everyone for reading, favoriting and/or alerting. **

**(O)0oO(-0-)Oo0(O)**

**Any questions and/or Concerns, please leave a review... or a p.m.**

**Any inconsistencies that appear in the chapter below should be immediately reported to me so that I could check over it and/or correct/clarify it.**

This chapter was done with effort undertaken after the flames of authorness have been fanned by that awesome writer-dude **robst**, an HP FF writer :P. His new story, No Hurry At All. Go read it, if you read HP fanfics. It's great.

As for how the story is losing it's shine... in the words of 'ChronoMitsurugi' hmm, well, like I mentioned before... this whole story was actually thrown together at the last minute. Seriously. The very Idea sprung forth from my brain as I was trying to write a regular old Naruto fic. And I ran with it. And People enjoyed it. apparently, not as much if the lack of reviews is any consideration. On the other hand, the amount of alerts and favorites seem to be pointing in the other direction. So I don't know. IN any case, I'll just try my best, eh? Better than just dumping the story, Am I Right?

**So, Hmm, not sure if this'll be up to any standards that have been set up for me. But it think it met the criteria I usually give myself. It does the job in introducing the first official air gear arc as well as finishing the 'entrance arc.' So it did the job, IMO.**

* * *

ACL: 13,159 (Word Length- from FF dot Net)

Posted: February 25, 2011

Updated: February 25, 2011... later. Corrected error pointed out by Gaijin Samurai

* * *

**Maelstrom's Road**

**Ch 10…**

**~An Invitation? To What? : Start of Arc II~  
**

* * *

**- Chapter 10: Start -**

* * *

**- Location: Training Lab, Trophaeum Tower -**

**_Year: 1989 – A Few Months before 'The Fall'_**

"Hey, Mal, what do you want to do once we get out of here?" a dark haired boy asked his older blond friend as they walked away from the Lab where they were just tested.

"What do you mean by that, Sora? We're done with our tests and training today." Mal replied, watching his friend from the corner of his eye.

"No... what I mean is… when we get out of this place." Sora asked him, looking serious for once, "When we're out of these labs. When we get to see the world on our own… without any of them looking over our shoulders anymore."

Pondering the question for a few moments, Mal hummed to himself, quickly annoying the younger kid, before he answered, "Hmm… let me ask you this. What do you think we should do when we get out?"

"I… don't know. That's why I was asking you, Mal."

"Honestly, Sora, I don't know." Mal muttered, turning away from his friend, going through the doors and into the locker room where they stored their clothes and gears. "I guess I just want to find a place to be happy."

"Really?" Sora replied skeptically a few minutes later, when they were changing in their separate stalls, "Don't you want to visit all the things they've shown us in the videos and pictures? To go out there and fly, to see them for ourselves?"

Mal chuckled in response, putting his long sleeved white shirt, "Well, Sora, it seems like you know what you wanted and you've gotten it already set in stone or whatever. Seriously though, I don't know. I'm actually okay where I am. Sure, we're kind of caged. Yes, I want to see what's out there. But really? I'm happy staying here."

"What?" Sora exclaimed, quickly walking out of his stall to confront his friend, "Why would you be? They test us, they do all of those things… They don't let us leave, to do what we really wanted to do!"

"It's because my family is here, Sora." Mal grinned, patting his friend on the shoulder, "My friends are here. Besides, isn't it enough that we could visit the outside through 'that place'?"

"No!" he denied vehemently, "There's more than this place, Mal! Can't you see that? Don't you-." He continued, only to stop as Mal held up his hand to stop him.

Looking down at his friend, Mal muttered, "I know, Sora. There is more than this place. I see it, and I know it. But there's always one thing that holds me back."

"What is it?"

Mal grinned, putting his hands behind his head as he stretched, "Like I said earlier, my family and my friends are my reasons for doing whatever I do."

Sora pouted as Mal walked by him, "You're scared aren't you?"

Raising an eyebrow at Sora, he stared at him for a few moments, unnerving the younger boy before he chuckled under his breath, "What do you think?"

Stunned at his relatively quick admission, Sora peered closely at Mal, quickly realizing how serious he was at that moment, more than he was usually, "Of what? You're the most capable of all of us, Mal! You could leave and be free!"

Turning away from the younger boy, Mal walked away, "Could I really, Sora? When I can guess at what happens once I leave? About what will happen to the others? Especially my siblings… do you know, Sora? I can't take that chance… Besides," he paused at the door and looked at the younger boy, leaving a shadow that covered most of the room due to the difference in lighting, "Even if I do get out… When I fall… what will happen to the things I care about?" he finished, his shadow departing, lightening the room once again despite leaving the other boy in shadow.

"What do you mean 'when you fall?' that isn't right, Mal." Sora asked himself, dropping himself down onto a bench, staring at his gears in the locker. "Shouldn't it be if?" he asked himself angrily, slamming his fists into the lockers.

* * *

**-Post-anesthesia Care-Ward - **

**_December 16, 2000 : 1:13 P.M._**

Sora woke up with a start after reliving the day right before he'd started to hate Mal. For having the ability, the 'choice' to do as he wished and wouldn't take it. The fact that their handler didn't like him or his twin much drove that hate deeper. But when Mal fell from the ceiling… fallen despite his perfect form as he whirled up the wall, his anger was lost. To this day, Sora didn't know how Mal fell. Mal had taught him how to wallride and he still used that same technique to this very day. Heck, Mal taught most of their group his useful tricks.

His thoughts drifting off to what had transpired the night before his 'fall,' which consisted of another argument, he let loose a snort of derision, _'He was too stubborn.'_ he thought to himself. Honestly, though, he'd ridden through the same path, the same way, even worked to get his body to the same 'specifications' that Mal had at the time of his fall. And even with the help of the others, he still couldn't find out just how it happened. He'd tried to keep resenting Mal, but the fact that even in the face of his anger, Mal kept on going. Kept teaching him, kept trying to stay his friend… it made him feel horrible especially once they realized he might not be coming back.

And, true to form… even after all these years away from them, Mal came back and left him the regalia and the rank of Wind King despite the fact that he would have been able to take over…

When he'd met him for the first time since he came back, however, he'd felt angry. Angry that he'd taken Rika away from him… but after their chase throughout the city, he realized that he wasn't as upset as he should have been. _'Did Rika mean that little to me, then?'_ he asked himself, before he quickly shook his head clear of those thoughts. _'What's done was done. Besides, it looked like they enjoyed being together anyways._' He thought to himself, remembering their faces that day and the others they'd spent together as a group. He wasn't about to antagonize his friends at this point over something so trivial.

Pulling himself up carefully, he ignored the aches and pains he felt in his legs as he reached for the buttons to control his bed. Keep him in a hospital bed, fine. But unless it was low enough to look up nurses' skirts, or high enough to look down their shirts when they were checking him… he'd rather not stay in one. _'Speaking of which…'_ he grinned to himself, rubbing his hands together with glee as he eyed the help button. _'This is going to be so awesome!'_

* * *

**Naruto's Mind**

**_Time - Unknown_**

"Where are we by the way?" Rika asked after a few moments, only to receive a finger to her lips from Naruto as they reached a turn, from which the light shone through.

"Just a few more minutes." He said, grabbing her other hand and pulling her up the slope, "This is something I haven't shown anyone else."

"Just what-?" she started, before the sudden orange light of dawn overtook her sight, blinding her and making her shut them in response, "What are you trying to pull?"

"Open your eyes." He said in reply, ignoring her protest and letting go of her hands.

Slowly, she opened them, receiving the beautiful sight of a city… except it couldn't be called that, as all of the buildings were primitive compared to 'today's' standards. "What-?"

Interrupting her, he held out his hands in front of him, "This…" he paused, giving a smile that was both happy and sad, "This is my village, Rika. My home, Konohagakure no Sato..."

"I don't understand, Naruto… you are a Gravity Child. The Tower was your home." She stated, confused. "Where is this?"

"Do you remember me saying… I'm not exactly Naruto?" he asked with a serious tone, receiving an uneasy nod in response.

"I am yet I'm not. I came from this village. Konoha. I loved it yet hated it at the same time, you know?" he mentioned with melancholy, accompanied by a small smile.

"Naruto… I'm scared. You're scaring me."

Nodding in assent, he stepped back, "Please, you've followed me this far… Just allow me to finish this." He asked, "Then I'll answer everything that wasn't answered."

"O-okay." She whispered as she hugged herself like she'd suddenly gotten cold, only to feel a warm coat draped around her shoulders. Eyes widening, she saw Naruto smile and nod.

"Anyways, Konoha was a ninja village. One of the five great villages of the Elemental Countries." The scenery changed, showing a map of the Elemental Countries, the regions of the 'Big Five,' highlighted with their symbols and colors. "Ninjas were the work forces of our world. They did everything." He mentioned, the area around them showing images of various ninjas doing their jobs. Some were helping citizens, others were fighting each other, and some were spying on other people. "Konoha was the 'greatest,' the most peaceful. But when I was born, there was a demon that attacked my village." He continued, beginning his story, the scenery around them changing from dawn to night, where they saw a huge nine-tailed fox attacking the shinobi forces. "The Kyubi no Yoko… the strongest of nine tailed beasts that existed on my world," he explained to a stunned Rika, "The village didn't know how and why it was attacking them, only able to respond to its attack without any effect." he stated, showing the damage Kyuubi's rampage brought to Konoha. "It was the same time I was born and the same night the leader of my village, the Hokage, sealed the beast into me with the skill of Fuuinjutsu." He continued as they focused on a large, several-stories tall toad with a blond-haired man dressed in common Jonin attire but with a white cloak edged with red flames."

Seeing the similarity between the two men, Naruto and the Hokage, she whispered, "Your father?"

Nodding in assent, he replied, "My father, Namikaze Minato. He sealed the beast into me." He told her, the scene focusing on his father summoning the Shinigami, the aura of the reaper-death-god still palpable despite it being a simulation of his mind. Probably taken from his memory of the Shinigami's aura. "He told the village that he wished for me to be seen as a hero." He finished with a sad tone, turning to her with a slight grimace. A small acknowledgement from Rika showed she understood his tone and expression.

"They didn't?" she asked, not really wanting to hear the response, but needing to in order to figure out the enigma in front of her.

"They didn't." he said succinctly. "They spat on his memory, Even his most prized student ignored his wishes." He growled, the scenery blurring and depositing them at a small clearing, showing a small four year old Naruto look up at a figure of a silver-white haired man with a dog mask that was in front of him, staring at the boy with such hate that Rika cringed despite it not being aimed at her. "The only ones that did were my mother, and his other student, which was alive." The scene blurring once again, showing him at home, laughing with a tall, red-haired woman, whose hair was a deeper red than her's. More crimson, in fact, yet with a tinge of violet in the right light; a brunette with purple rectangle marks on her cheeks stood at the side, laughing against the wall at the boy's antics. "My mother, Uzumaki Kushina, and my 'aunt,' an orphan whose name was Rin." He finished with a sad smile, his eyes watery as he stared at the scene in front of him. Rika stood, pulling the cloak tighter around her, wanting to comfort him, but aware that he didn't want her to just yet.

"They were the most important people to me. They cared for me," He spoke with compassion, clenching his fist, "and they paid for it."

"What!" she exclaimed, only to for the image around them to blur once again, placing them in the middle of the street, where Kushina pushed a figure beating Naruto up, off of him. Stunned at the mere sight of the violence brought onto the small Naruto, Rika rushed forth to protect him, only to phase through him. "Why can't I help him!" she screamed at the older one who was watching the scene.

"I can't…" he whispered, locking his gaze with hers, "I can't change the past, Rika." He intoned, before turning his gaze back to the scene, just as Kushina told the small Naruto she loved him. "I love you too, mom." He whispered softly, barely audible to Rika just as the whole block burst into flames.

"Naruto…" she whispered, staring at the carnage that explosion caused before the area was covered in darkness. Only with her and Naruto's forms still visible. "What is that? What happened?"

"That's all I remember happening after that, Rika." He whispered, before he shook his head and wiped away the tears. "After that… I guess I broke a bit. I changed, I tried to forget what happened," He said with a frown, as they focused on him running around with a bright orange jumpsuit with a large smile, "Instead of trying to get back at the people by fighting them, I pranked them." he said with a small chuckle, visions of his most memorable pranks appearing around them… the time when he painted the Hokage Monument without getting caught, one of his favorites.

"But that wasn't all, actually, I tried becoming a Ninja, you know? I wanted to become strong enough to protect everyone I cared for. Which was my surrogate family, the owners of a Ramen stand, Ichiraku Teuchi and Ayame." He said, his smile growing larger as they came up to a ramen stand with a smiling old man and a pretty brunette who brought him in and gave him food. "And I succeeded." He said proudly, the scene jumping to his graduation, where Iruka gave him his headband. "Any questions?"

Shocked at the state of the scarred Chunin, she could only shake her head at him to continue.

"It wasn't all great though," he chuckled drily, "My team sucked, an uber-obsessive fangirl and a bastard who'd gotten everything handed to him. And Him…" he growled as they jumped to the Team Seven training grounds, where a pink-haired girl smacked Naruto around, screaming at the top of her voice just as a dark-blue haired boy walked up and she switched gears and asked him for a date, only for him to grunt and turn away. Then their sensei showed up, a familiar figure appearing in a burst of smoke.

"Huh?" she asked, dumbfounded, "Seriously? A guy who happened to hate you…"

"Ironic, huh?" he asked with a shrug.

"No… stupid." She retorted, "Why didn't you say anything… or ask for a transfer or something?"

"I couldn't transfer out until I hit the next rank. Besides… they wouldn't even if there was a small chance of it happening."

"Why not?"

"They didn't like me, remember?"

"Oh yeah… that."

"Anyways. It wasn't all that bad. I got through it, you know?"

"I guess…"

"Hehe," he laughed, giving her a smile, as he put his hands behind his head, "It's fine. I've got you… and the other guys now."

Warmed by his words, she nodded, "Right."

"But we're nearing the end of this half the story… The demon… Kyuubi." He spoke, drawing her attention, "Apparently, he wasn't himself, really. He wasn't even a true demon. But he was controlled by something to attack the village."

"But isn't something like that out of the blue suspicious?"

"I guess it is, but I decided to give him a chance, you know? He asked the Shinigami to allow me to live a life free of the hate that I had in exchange for his services. It was accepted."

"So…how did you end up here?" she asked, still doubting his story despite the feelings she experienced at each event.

"Ahh, now we get to the tricky part, Rika." He stated, "The offer was offered to me and I accepted after several concessions were made."

Interested, she motioned for him to go on, "Yeah?"

"I didn't want to live there anymore for one, another was for me to not take over anyone's body, but combine with them if they wished so that I wouldn't really be taking over anything. And…" Intrigued, Rika peered at his eyes, which took on a somewhat glazed hue, "I wanted to fly." He whispered, "But above all else, I wanted to have a family, and maybe even one of my own."

Putting the pieces together, she spoke up, "So… they sent you here… because the Other Naruto was in a coma?"

Nodding at her quick uptake, he showed himself talking to a practical mirror image of himself, standing over the comatose body of Maelstrom. Rika then noticed that the body and the other figure didn't have any whisker marks, "I'm the one with three whisker marks by the way," he grinned cheekily, only to dodge her light slap, "Anyways, he agreed, but he had his own stipulations… he wanted us to combine our strengths. My ability to use chakra and my regeneration which I got from Kyuubi, combined with his natural abilities." He then gestured at himself, "But it took time, but we hit a snag… as the body was 'rebooting,' Uncle Inari was afraid of our drop in our bodily functions,"

"So… at that time, he put you in the Cryogenic freezer." she stated, more than asked. Nodding, Naruto, waved his hands and they watched Inari prep Maelstrom/Naruto's body for storage.

"And… three years-ish later… I appeared." He finished, clapping his hands together, "Any questions?"

"You're serious?" Rika asked worriedly, "You're not lying to me?"

"Of course not... I've never lied to you. I might have not mentioned some things, but I've never lied to you."

"Where are we, really?" she asked, daring to believe him despite how outlandish the idea he presented to her.

"Like I said… we're in my mind. Time here is… faster. We could spend an hour here and it'd be only a few minutes outside… although it depends on what I'm doing inside of my head, really."

"So, if that's true…" she stalled, before she came up with an Idea, "You can show me everything? And anything I ask?"

Realizing what she was asking, he shook his head, "Pretty much everything. But only what I've experienced, really. So I really can't show you what a star looks like up close or something."

"That's good enough." She smiled sultrily, as she let the coat fall from her shoulders, "So, you wouldn't be against me asking you to show me anything I want, if you could do it?"

His face heating up at her actions, he stammered, "U-uh… I. I, uh. As long as it isn't too private."

Pouting at his resistance, 'At least he's honest about that,' she thought, before she spoke up, "So, you wouldn't mind spending some time here showing me your world, right?"

"Of course not. Anything I've experienced, we could look through."

"Soooo…" she started, moving closer to him, trailing her fingers up his arms before she locked her hands behind his neck as she looked at his flustered state, "We could see exactly how we look like when we've kissed or gone on dates?"

Spluttering, he tried to pull away, only to be held by her strong grip, which, he had to admit, was quite strong, 'Why the hell are all the chicks I happen to like so strong?' he asked himself, only to stop struggling at the sound of her laugh.

"I'm joking, Naruto… but... maybe later?" She offered, wondering exactly why he was so easy to fluster in here, "I want to see your world."

Taking the lifeline he was given, he nodded hurriedly, "Y-yeah… sure. Whatever you want, Rika."

Deciding to stop teasing him, she gave him a peck on the cheek as she released her hold on him, "So, are you really Naruto? Or are you Maelstrom?" She asked, staring into his eyes to make sure he wasn't lying, "I'm both… of course, I've show more traits of Naruto than Maelstrom, but that's because Maelstrom was in a coma for years, so he was 'alive' only for nine years while I was alive for fifteen, almost sixteen years."

"Gotcha… so, can you show me some of Maelstrom's memories after, just to make sure that you really are, you know…" she trailed off, looking to the side, before she looked back up at his face, "It doesn't matter, though… you're you. Whether or not your Naruto or Maelstrom, you're my Naru-kun."

Smiling at her admission, he gave her a tight hug, "So, where do you want to start?"

"Before that, though… exactly why was the stuff you were seeing in third person? How were you able to show me something that happened before you were born?"

Her questions gave Naruto pause, "Actually… I never looked into why the stuff was in third person… maybe it's because you're here? It's usually in first person whenever I look back at my memories. As for what happened with Kyuubi and my Father… I've heard loads of stories about how it happened, and I happen to know exactly what they all looked like. Some of the damage was still present when I looked, and that was about twelve years later. I met the toad boss and there were enough pictures of the Kyuubi around the libraries and stuff…"

"Any other questions?" he asked teasing her at her interruptions, receiving a shake of her head in response. "Where to then, Rika-chan?" he asked in a decidedly lighter tone.

"Show me… everything." She breathed.

Shaking his head at her, he pulled her closer to him, whispering, "Everything? Rika, I've done so much… I've given up so many things just to be here…" he sighed, staring into her eyes, "… then what would you give me if I do?"

Realizing that she might have asked for too much, she blushed slightly, "Show me Maelstrom's life and how we ended up here. It doesn't have to be everything." She decided, patting his cheek, "But I want to be sure… this is way too much and too good to be true, Naru-kun. The very least… I'll always be there, even if we're not together… okay?"

Nodding, he hugged her, "Alright… that's the least I could hope for." He whispered into her ear, only for her to stiffen and pull away. Surprised, he stared into her face, which was adorned by a cheeky smile. "What?"

"Show me what you could do, Naruto. Show me what you've done… will you do that?"

Chuckling at her, he asked, "What do I get for doing this?"

Standing on her toes, she whispered into his ear, "Whatever you want." She breathed, hoping that he would pass her test. If he got through this, then his chances would…

"You don't have to." He said, looking into her eyes, "I owe you something for letting me stay at your home anyways." Seeing her small smile, he added, "I've always wanted a second view on what I could do anyways…

* * *

**- Kilik's Office, Neo-Sleeping Forest Base – **

**_December 16, 2000 – 1:30 P.M._**

Kilik sighed, watching over the surveillance videos that he'd set up all over the city. "Is… this right?" he asked himself, switching over to see his elder brother at Rika's side, both of them sleeping in the room she was kept in. "Dammit…"

"What's done is done, Kilik." A female voice called out from behind him.

Without turning around, Kilik gave a slow nod, "I guess we do. Are the others don't mind staying here?"

"Gabishi and Om have no problems. They've missed this place. I have as well."

"Nina… that's not what I meant." He chuckled sadly, "They sky… we'll be missing the sky if we stay down here."

"It's alright, Kilik." She grinned, "Using Regalia to destroy Regalia is the new motto of Sleeping Forest, is it not?"

"I just wish it didn't end up this way… with my brother back… and Sora and them…"

Shaking her head at him, she walked up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, "Don't worry, it will be fine, Kilik. We'll support you. We'll be the forest that protects them from the sky. Is that not why we were gathered?"

"Despite how much it hurts them… we'll keep them safe." He added, tilting his head back and looking at her face. "Caged, yet free… with enough space to fly. So long as they don't yearn for something that is beyond their reach."

Nina looked down at him. Her platinum blonde, cut in a way similar to his, framing their faces as she placed a kiss on his forehead. "Don't worry, Kilik." She whispered, seeing the troubled and anxious look in his eyes, "It'll all turn out fine. You'll meet your siblings again someday."

* * *

**- Makigami Ine's Office, Tool Toul To Building –**

**_- December 16, 2000 – 1:37 P.M._**

Ine got up from the terminal and stretched. After she'd gotten permission from Naruto to use his blood to synthesize a regeneration agent, she worked practically nonstop on the cure that would allow her to help the patients in the other room. Sure, they would heal on their own, but they'd never reach the level that they once wielded because their own healing wouldn't cut it. She had a chance to help them and to ignore that chance would be unacceptable. She knew how they felt about their abilities and their bodies. Suddenly, something struck her about her actions and considered Tool Toul To's new position about AT teams and riders… 'If I'm really neutral… why am I helping them?' she thought, pondering over that question for a few moments, she shook her head and ignored that thought.

She was a doctor. A Medical Practitioner. Not only that, but they were and are her friends. "Besides," she said aloud, getting back into her seat, "Despite how much I hate Kilik right now for making me do all this work… I'd probably treat him anyway."

She kneaded her forehead as she sat back down. The biggest problem with the agent was the fact that it wouldn't take. The only person who would have benefited from the agent would have been Spitfire. Not to say that she wasn't glad… but the others were in either similar or worse states. Sora was worse off than the rest, however and without this help that she was trying to procure… it would be almost impossible for him to ride again. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned around, only to come face to face with Rune. "What is it, Rune?" she asked, straightening herself in her chair.

"They're starting to wake." He said, walking off without waiting for a response.

Turning back to the screen, she couldn't resist looking towards the room her 'patients' were staying in. Letting out a low curse, she locked the computer and got up, heading to their room. They'd want to hear the news from her anyways.

* * *

**- Naruto's Mind - **

**_Time: Unknown_**

Rika just stared at Naruto after they watched his fights and accomplishments. "What the hell?" she muttered, her eyes peering at him, making him uncomfortable.

"What is it?"

"If your training after that 'survival exercise' in the forest was any indication… you should be loads better than you've been showing me." She stated, her foot tapping in annoyance, "And if you really were a ninja… how were you taken out so easily… and in such a backhanded manner, huh?"

"I, uh…" he started, scratching the back of his head at the questions, "I don't know?" seeing her expression, he trudged forward, "I mean, like… Obviously, I'm not back to a hundred percent. And the stuff you've seen me doing, it was when I was back at the elemental countries anyways. Besides, I'm a fusion of two people, a kid who was sent into a coma at nine years old, who hadn't had any real need to move his body, and myself. Our bodies weren't even at the same status. Genetically, my body's a bit closer to the Naruto from the Elemental Countries… but it took training to make it that good." Scoffing, he crossed his arms in front of him, "And aside from that… I've only been here for a month." He finished, giving her a heated look, "Satisfied?"

She nodded slowly, a small smirk beginning to grow on her face, "That was a great explanation… and it makes a lot of sense, so I'll give you that. But you see… you didn't answer the other question, Naru-kun." She whispered, gliding her hands over his arms at the end of her sentence. Hearing a muttered 'damn' she mentally giggled. He truly was someone she enjoyed being with.

"Ah… well, you see." He began, now scratching his cheek, "How did you get knocked out like that?"

"I was used to being on a team, and didn't watch my own back like I used to do." She grinned, seeing his dumbfounded expression, "Now back to you."

"But… but…" he stammered, "You were supposed to dance around the subject, allowing me to evade answering yours!" he exclaimed, pointing at her in emphasis.

"Nu-uh… I was asking you questions, it was only fair I'd answer every once in a while…" she answered, her hands behind her back.

"Damn… you've got me there." He muttered, "Well… you , do you want to see-."

She cut him off. "No. Answer the question."

"I was overconfident, okay?" he grumbled, pouting at his admission, "I didn't expect something so big to move so fast, so I was caught off guard."

"So you're saying you don't think Dontores can move fast?"

"That… that's not fair! No way, Don's awesome…" He protested, "Don could move pretty damn fast if he wanted to. I was talking about the robot. When I was fighting it, it didn't seem that fast at all." He explained, the scene around them rewinding back to the part where he was fighting Rinta in the suit. Looking back at the replay, she had to admit that it was indeed, somewhat slow. Only to see the difference in speed after the talk Rinta and Naruto had, seeing him relax, thinking that the fight was over with after their talk.

"Hmm… alright." She teased, seeing him relax at her acceptance. "You need to be better next time, though. Okay, Naru-kun?"

"Right!" he agreed. "More training!" he shouted, only to be shut up when she kissed him.

"Think you could teach me some of this stuff?"

"Defenitely." He stated with confidence, before he added as an afterthought "They might be a bit different here though… can you handle that?"

"Hehe, Defenitely." She replied, showing him a bright smile. It'd be nice to get through a fight with only fatigue and no body damage for a change.

* * *

**- Takeuchi Sora 'Nike's,' Home, Somewhere in America –**

**_December 15, 2000 – 11:18 P.M._**

Sora frowned as he read over the reports about the confrontation between Kilik and his twin. This would definitely push back his plans for several years. Getting up from his desk, he made his way to the basement of the flat he'd gotten in America. Pausing at the door, he heard the chains and whimpering come from behind the door. He grinned ferally, unbuckling his belt as he opened the door. "If Sora wanted me to be more like him, then I'll do that." He muttered, wrapping the belt around his fist, "but I'll do it my way." He intoned, opening the door and grabbing the chain that led to a bitch that was cowering in the corner. "Get over here, I'm gonna have fun with you tonight." Smirking, he pulled her to him and inhaling her scent, ignoring her pleas to let her go. Oh, he'd do that… but not after he'd done what he wanted with her. Just like all of the other ones.

She didn't say the safe word.

He was still good to go.

* * *

**- Makigami Ine's Office, Tool Toul To Building –**

**_- December 16, 2000 – 2:18 P.M._**

Naruto got up first, carefully reaching around her neck to pull the seal off. _'Did I do the right thing, Baxter?' _he asked his companion as he paused, his fingers at the edge of the sealing tag. _'Was it right to omit that much stuff?'_

**_'I think not, kit. The fact of the matter is, you're already in murky waters at the moment. Omitting the fact that I exist was a good move. It's more than likely that it would be a bad idea to mention me at all. The fact that in this world, the deities aren't held in the regards that they were in the Elemental Countries… it wouldn't have made it easier attempting to tell her about Amaterasu-sama and the rest of them.'_** Baxter truthfully replied, giving his own take on the situation, **_'Of course, I would rather have not told her at all, but it was your decision, not mine.'_**

Sensing his friend's feelings on the situation, Naruto merely grunted as he pulled the tag off of Rika. _'Of course it was my decision, if I was going to wreck any relationship that I had, I'd rather have done it near the beginning before it started. Keeping all of that information would only have made things worse in the end, Baxter.'_

**_'How would you know that, kit?'_** Baxter asked skeptically.

Naruto merely stayed silent as he watched Rika start to come to, _'I don't… but I'm not taking any chances, Baxter.' _Standing up, he placed the seals into the pocket of his pants, before he turned and smiled at her, his face being the first thing she saw as she woke up, bringing a smile to her own as well. _'It may not have been the way I would have planned, but flying by the seat of my pants has never really let me down before.'_

* * *

**-Post-anesthesia Care-Ward - **

**_December 16, 2000 - 2:23 P.M._**

"Wh-what the hell happened?" Falko groaned out, feeling the full effects of the pain-fest they'd gone through earlier.

"Trounced." Rumbled Dontores from somewhere on his left, "Got taken down quickly."

"Don't remind me, Don." Blackburn spoke up across from where Sora was laying, "The mere fact that Kilik could get those people to help him."

"We're all alive though." Spitfire added, somewhat chipper despite the overall mood that shadowed the room.

"Alive, but with none of our Regalias." Sora sarcastically put in, seated on his bed, quickly dampening Spitfire's mood.

Not opening his eyes just yet, Falko asked, "Hospital?"

"Hospital." Was the unified answer of his roommates, followed by small chuckles that made them feel a little better.

"Ine-chan's isn't it." Was Spitfire's addition, only to be received by silence. Quickly sitting up (as quickly as he could anyways), he addressed his teammates, "Quick, let's-!" not noticing the quieting motions that they were making at him.

"Let's what?" a feminine voice that was quite familiar to all of them asked, halting him in his tracks.

Turning around slowly, both due to the fear and the pain, Spitfire met Ine's eyes, "Get some more sleep, Ine-hime?" he asked meekly, only to receive a shake of the head from her.

"Guys… I have news."

"Aw, shit." Dontores replied, summarizing the thoughts of the gathered, "Bad or Good?"

Thinking for a moment, making them sweat a little, she slowly answered, "Bad… and uncertain."

Stunned, Blackburn quickly pulled himself together, "What do you mean uncertain… that's not good at all! You should have said bad and bad."

Snickering, Spitfire retorted, "Yeah, but if she did that, then you'd be even more depressed. She probably has something, but isn't sure it'd work. Am I right, Ine-hime?" Seeing her nod and smile in thanks, he looked around at the other guys, who were completely focused at this point, "Bad news first?"

Seeing them nod, Ine began, "The bad news is… Sora."

"I know." He smiled softly, remembering the pain from when they were cut, accompanied by his legs feeling like they were sent through a shredder. "I felt it."

"Umm… right. Blackburn… your natural healing should take care of the internal damages your body sustained, especially since we treated them really quickly." Receiving a nod from him, she continued, "But the burns… they'll be leaving some marks and you'll have some scars on your upper body."

Chuckling slightly, taking care not to disturb the bandages too much, he replied, smiling, "It's fine. My hime fell for my personality. The looks were just a bonus. At least nothing below the waist was affected."

Receiving chuckles from the rest of them, she turned to Dontores, "Don, you've noticed them, right?" After his assent, she carried on, "Your tendons in your legs, unlike the rest of them… were really light. They should barely affect you. However, you'll retain the heavy scarring over your arms and your chest. You may occasionally feel tightness in your chest or in your arms, but you should be able to do what you do with no problem."

"Good." He said, in a somewhat happy tone, "That's just fine with me."

"Falko."

"Yep."

"You're lucky compared to the other guys here. Not only did they not get your tendons, but unlike the rest of them, what you received wasn't too severe. The scarring won't be as noticeable for you due to the size of the wounds you've received. The largest being the one by your collar bone. You'll have to take it easy, however. Your bones need to have time to heal."

"So on the outside, I'll be practically the same?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in her direction.

"Correct."

"Then I can't complain too much."

"Spitfire."

"Go on, Hime."

"Your tendons were damaged as well. However, we sighted miniature 'explosions' that were spread throughout your body similar to the wounds Blackburn received. However, yours were focused on your joints and specific muscle groups."

"This means?" he prompted, seeing her pause, not wanting to guess.

"You'll be here quite possible longer than the rest." She answered, followed by silence as the occupants of the room thought about what happened.

"What exactly was bad about that?" Sora asked despite the state they were in. "What was the uncertain thing anyways?"

"What do you mean 'what was bad about that?'" Ine shot back, "There's something wrong with you if there wasn't anything bad about it?"

Falko came to his defence, however, "Ine. What he means to say, I think, is that what we received wasn't really as bad as losing our limbs when our lives could have been taken away. Am I right?" A nod from Sora accompanied his explanation, "So, what exactly was bad about it?"

"But the scars!" she exclaimed, wondering why they didn't see what she was talking about. "The time you'll have to spend recovering! Your bodies!"

"Scars are fine. I'll probably get tattoos to cover them up." Dontores answered first, looking at his arms and feeling for the wounded areas through the bandages, "They'd look great then."

"But-!" she protested.

"Pshh, recovery, Ine." Blackburn interrupted, "The tower won't open for a while, anyways. This just shows how unprepared we were, you know? And I like Don's idea. I'll just have to put it past Yuki-hime. Speaking of which, have they visited?"

"Yes, they're resting right now, but-!"

"I'm quite fine with my body, Ine-hime." Spitfire interrupted her as well, "Besides, you like me for me, not just for my body, right?"

Seeing her turn towards him, Sora interjected, shaking his head at his friends' antics, "What was the uncertain part?"

Grinding her teeth in frustration, she took a deep breath to calm herself, "Well, fine. If you guys aren't worried for your bodies health then I don't need to tell you."

"Aww, c'mon, Ine-hime." Spitfire pleaded good-naturedly, accompanied by nods from the rest of the guys.

"It's just frustrating that you guys could be so casual about this!" she yelled, surprising them. "Don't you have any regards to your own lives? Let alone those close to you? Not only that, but you keep interrupting me!"

Cowed by her words and her emotions, they looked away from her, only for Sora to speak up, gathering their attention. "Ine... you know as well as I do… that we're all just fine. Not great, but we're fine. Even though we were horribly maimed, Kilik wouldn't kill us. Gabishi, though… I never expected him to be there."

"That still doesn't change the fact that you were so-."

"Severely beaten?" Sora finished asked with a twitch at the corners of his lips, "Yeah, we were. But that just shows how much…"

"How much?" Ine asked, prodding him to continue.

"How much we really weren't ready." He said with a sigh. "You guys know me. Right?" he asked, receiving affirmations from his friends, "My dream was always to be one with the sky. Even though we have these bodies... these abilities, with which to fly with… we don't have the heart to do so."

"I don't get what you're talking about, Sora," Spitfire interjected, sounding confused, "Are we not one with the sky? We could fly, yes? Then what's the problem?"

At that, Dontores chuckled, "Your road isn't as attached to the sky as his and mine are, Spittie."

Blackburn added, "I get what you mean, Sora, Don… Even though, like you said, my road isn't as attached to the sky, I feel it too."

Sora smiled grimly from his bed, "The lack of connection. We have the desire, the ability, the resources to fly the highest, but we can't enjoy it like we could. There's always that wall that's between us and the directive, the want, the need to be one with the sky."

"That's why we wanted to get to the Sky Regalia." Falko finished sagely, nodding his head.

"I could guess at what you guys are talking about, Sora. But I haven't even seen you going for it, Don…" Spitfire said, looking at his friend, only to receive a shake of the head.

"I have tried, believe me," Dontores grumbled, looking away, "I've worked at it, but I can't achieve it. So I turned to another direction."

Eyes lighting up in recognition Blackburn raised his eyebrow at Dontores with a slight smirk, "So that's the deal with the hip-hop/rap business?"

Grunting, Dontores nodded, "It lifts me up in a different way. But it's more than enough for me."

Sora merely sighed at that, "Sadly, I can't do anything like that. I suck at musical instruments."

Ine shook her head at him, "It's your fault you do. You don't even try."

"I do try!" he exclaimed hotly, before his face took a more serious expression, "What's the uncertain thing, Ine?"

"I haven't completely finished analyzing it yet, but-"

"It's a regeneration agent based on something that I have." Naruto finished as he walked in the door, quickly followed by Rika.

"I refuse." Sora said, a seriousness permeating his being, shocking the rest of the room into silence.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, locking onto Sora's, "If this has anything to do with-."

Holding up his hand to stall his friend, Sora smiled lightly, "Do you remember, Mal?" he asked, "The day before you fell…"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, confused, "You don't mean the conversation we had, do you?" Seeing Sora nod, Naruto tilted his head to the side, somewhat confused at the way the conversation was going. "I still don't get it, Sora."

"I asked you why you wouldn't go for it. Remember your answer?" Sora prodded, trying to make his friend realize what he was talking about.

Still confused, Naruto stayed silent, his gaze moving to the floor, trying to find something to focus on. The others were quiet, wanting to know what exactly went on between them. Suddenly, Naruto's eyes lit up in recognition, "What happens to what I care about when I fall…" he whispered, quickly looking back up at Sora.

Sora spoke, "I kept thinking that it was foolish of you, you know? To not take that risk…" he frowned, "I fell, Mal… this is something… something that I need to work around."

Ignoring Sora calling him Mal, Naruto stepped forward, "It doesn't have to be that way, Sora. We're your friends, why can't we help?"

"Because I have my answer to that question…" Sora replied, grinning a little bit, "I'm going to work my way around this. I'll push myself back to where I was."

"Even without the use of your legs?" Falko interrupted, incredulousness lacing his words.

Sora still grinned, before he glanced at Dontores, "Does Dontores need ATs on his feet to use his regalia?"

Quickly deducing what he was implying, Blackburn added, "No, he doesn't… so exactly what would you do now, Sora?"

Pausing, Sora shrugged, leaning back in his bed, "I haven't thought that far yet."

Ine finally inserted herself back into the conversation, "Actually… I have an Idea after Naruto here decided to take one of the wheelchairs on a joyride."

Chuckling nervously, Naruto scratched the back of his head as he backed away slowly, "Yeah… sorry about that, I needed to work out some stress… If you need me to clean it up?"

"Sora's eyes gleamed at the info, quickly sitting back up, "A wheelchair." He whispered, his tone quickly getting excited, "Seriously!" he asked, turning to Ine and wondering if it was true.

"It certainly is possible, Sora." Ine answered him, causing him to breathe out a sigh of relief and lay back down slowly in his thoughtful state.

"A wheelchair, huh?" he asked himself, visions of him beating riders with full usage of their legs making a smile grow on his face.

"I think he likes it." Rika spoke, seeing the smile on his face.

_'Then the girls I would get,'_ Sora gushed, his eyes twinkling at how he could use the wheelchairs and his newer height to look up girls skirts. _'Oh, I like this idea.'_ He cheered inside his head, his smile becoming a bit too lecherous.

Wrinkling her nose at his new countenance, Rika muttered to herself, "Actually… a little too much."

Snorting, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at the rest of the group, "So… what happens now?"

Blackburn merely chuckled even as he winced from the pain that seared through his chest at the motion, "We prepare, Mal, for the next time."

"Hmm… any idea when that is?"

"We'll know," Spitfire piped up, resting his head and looking up at the ceiling, "We'll know." Clenching his fists, his eyes focused on a point in front of him, "And I'll be there."

"Che, Don't get bent out of shape, Spitfire," Sora rebuked him from his corner of the room, "I'll be there to help you out. Even if Kilik was an ass, he's still my best friend. And I'll be damned if anyone else will be taking him down until I get answers."

Naruto's eyebrows went up in interest, "What do you mean by that, Sora? I thought you both knew what was going to happen."

He shook his head, a frown marring his face, "I was never going to go that far. I was going to make an attempt," he chuckled, the frown still present on his face, realizing how much sense he was actually making, "Guess he took our talk too seriously. I was trying to stress to him how important it was to me, but I never thought that he would assume that I would throw our friendship… heck, our bodies or our lives for this thing."

"I understand." Naruto stopped him from going further, "We'll see, Sora... we'll see."

* * *

**TIME-SKIP**

* * *

**Tool Toul To Base – Makigami Ine's office**

**_December 10, 2002 - 11:48 A.M._**

Ine looked around the room at the gathered former members of Sleeping Forest from her seat behind her computer. Looking straight at her boyfriend, who was stretching in the corner, she let out a small smile. Despite Spitfire rejecting the treatment that she was working on, she was still glad that he'd recovered nicely. True, he'd probably never reach the same pinnacle that he'd once wielded, but compared to normal humans, he was still loads better.

Turning to the loveseat situated on the left side of the room, she noticed Naruto holding Rika close, his arm draped over her shoulders. If there was anyone or any two people she was concerned about the most, it would have been those two. Not only did the two of them go through a rocky patch in their fledgling relationship after that night. One that had lasted for almost a year but was repaired when Naruto took care of Rika and her sisters when the girls' parents died on the way to the airport on February of this year. A trip that was coincidentally headed out of the country for a repeat honeymoon on their twenty-fifth anniversary. The same sort of flight that Naruto's and Spitfire's parents had been on at the time of her deaths. Quickly making a note to prevent any of them or their friends to take precautions especially when making honeymoon plans, she got up just as the door opened and Blackburn and Dontores walked in.

"Hey guys…" Ine called out, pushing out her chair to give her friends hugs, "Nice to see you could make it."

"What's this about, Ine?" Blackburn asked after his hug, "I'm pretty sure this isn't a social call. We have those hangouts twice a month."

"Yeah… doesn't make too much sense considering the fact that Sora's and Falko aren't here." Naruto mentioned after seeing his friend wasn't there.

"Don't you guys know what will happen within the next week then?" Rika asked from beside him at her place on the couch.

At that, Dontores nodded, "Two years since that night."

Ine nodded at Dontores' correct assumption, "Stormriders everywhere are gearing up for an assault on the tower once again."

At her statement, Naruto's eyebrows furrowed in concentration before he asked, "If they were going to assault the tower again, then why didn't they make an attempt last year?"

Ine merely shook her head at his question, "It's because there was no need to tell you about it last year."

Rika shook her head at that, "What do you mean, there was no need? We asked you ourselves whether or not we should come here. People knew when the tower was last open, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't make a yearly attempt, would it?"

A voice called in from all around them, "It's because we took care of it."

Naruto's eyes widened, recognizing the voice, "Kilik…"

"Nii-san." Kilik greeted, a projector popping up from the ceiling, projecting his figure onto the blank wall in Ine's office.

"Bastard!" Spitfire yelled, breathing deeply, trying to calm himself. "What the hell do you want, huh?"

Kilik merely sighed, his fingers kneading the bridge of his nose at the hostility he'd felt even though he wasn't exactly present, "I guess I deserved that, didn't I?" he asked himself, before turning his sights to Ine, "Thank you, Ine, for giving me the chance to meet with them."

At that, the rest of them turned to her with suspicious looks, only to receive a glare in return, "Tool Toul To is neutral, despite how much I wish we weren't." she said drily, "That means that we would have to accept any invitation for peaceful talks between factions. Otherwise, we'd have to turn everyone away."

Nodding at her explanation and seeing Spitfire's mutinous look, Blackburn smacked the back of his head, "Stop glaring at her. You should realize how much stress she's been under if she had to set it up, let alone keep it from you."

Sighing Dontores took a seat at one of the chairs set up throughout the room, "So, what is this about, Kilik?" he asked, getting himself comfortable.

"I'd like to say… that I'm sorry for Gabishi and Om's actions." He said, with a frown, "I'd told them to just leave you knocked out if possible, but they were a bit too bloodthirsty, apparently."

Hearing that, Spitfire grunted, still somewhat miffed at being caught flatfooted by his brother's appearance, "That's an understatement."

His statement causing most of the occupants in the room to laugh for a few seconds before silence permeated the room once more. "If you have taken up the defense of the Tower, Kilik… with those people with you and any others that have joined you," Naruto began, threading his fingers through Rika's hair, "Why do you need our help."

Rika added, "Not to say that we would, but why would you need our help anyways. You have the help of several other Gravity Children, Kilik."

Blackburn nodded, grinning slightly, "Not only that, but other than my Regalia, which was left probably because it's a suit," he pondered, trying to see Kilik's reaction, "We wouldn't be much help for you."

At Blackburn's statement, Dontores chuckled, "Not only that," he muttered, "but you didn't leave us in great shape after all."

Naruto nodded, "Not only that, but neither Falko nor Sora are here, Kilik. That's one of the things I want answers to." He stated, the others agreeing with him.

Seeing the validity of their arguments, Kilik nodded and crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaning back onto his chair. "Starting with your last question, the reason that Falko and Sora aren't here… is that they're no longer parts of the AT scene." He began, "Falko is more interested in his programming these days, especially if he hasn't come to any gatherings that he'd been invited to… am I right?" Seeing their reluctant nods, he continued, "Not only that, but if you'd noticed, Sora's left to go with his brother, Nike, in the United States yesterday."

At that, Naruto stood up quickly, "What do you mean, he'd left to go with Nike? Without telling us?" turning to Ine, he looked her in the eyes, "Did you know anything about that, Ine?"

Shaking her head quickly, she responded, "I had no idea. Hell, this is the first I'd heard of it."

Spitfire said, "She doesn't know." After making sure that he had his friends' attention, he sighed, "We were together the whole day yesterday and today. My only question is that if Sora really did leave within the past day, how did you, Kilik, know about it before any of us did."

Surprised at Spitfire's rationale, most of the room was silent, only to be broken by Kilik's chuckle, "It's because like it should have been implied," he smirked, "We're keeping an eye on everyone that's relatively important. May we move onto the reason that I've asked all of you to be gathered here today?" he asked. Receiving nods from the gathered, he continued, the reason why I've asked you to gather here today is because there's unrest in the AT community."

Rika's face took on a skeptical look at that, "What do you mean by that, Kilik? I hadn't noticed anything like that."

"That's because most of the discontent is present in other regions of the world. Many are asking around, trying to find out about the Tower. News of it and the events surrounding it from two years ago have circumnavigated the globe." Kilik answered.

"They're going to eventually make their way back here, aren't they?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at Kilik.

"Yes. In fact, if they do something like that, then their 'invasions' would likely be year-long round. And if that happens, with all of the attacks made and people sent to the hospital-."

Chuckling, Dontores interrupted, "No doubt due to Gabishi's actions at the very least."

Ceding the point, Kilik continued, "There would need to be a way to funnel the 'invaders' into a place or time when the damage would be the least severe."

Tired of being left out of the conversation despite how much information she was receiving, Ine interrupted from her new position, sitting beside Spitfire, "So why did you need them here, Kilik? Why do you need my help as well?"

"Not only that, Kilik." Spitfire added, "But what's in this for us?"

Naruto inserted his own opinion, "We still want to know what the hell happened two years ago, Kilik."

"I admit…" Kilik began, "That what happened two years ago wasn't really planned." He chuckled weakly, "Hell, I didn't expect that fight to escalate that quickly. I had planned for the eventuality of a fight, but the ferocity and the height of the violence surprised me and I'd reacted on pure instinct."

Knowing the feelings themselves, the occupants of the room merely nodded at his admission. Naruto, however, stared at his brother's image, "I still want to know why, Kilik. Not only that, but why would we help and what do we get out of this?"

Knowing that this was coming, Kilik sighed from his seat before he leaned forward, tapping a few keys on the computer he was sitting at before leaning back once more. "You want to know why, Nii-san?" he asked, staring back at his brother, "Do any of you wish to know why?" he asked, looking at the rest of them, "Then participate. Help us with knocking out the competition. Win, and you'll get something in return. Chances are," he paused, a smirk threatening to overtake his face, "This is the reason that Sora left to visit Nike." He finished, before cutting off the video feed.

Stunned at the abrupt end to their conversation, the room was steeped in silence, only to be broken by Spitfire's incredulous tone, "What. The. Fuck?"

Only to be answered by a beep, their focus turning once more to the screen. More specifically, a message that had popped up. Intrigued, Ine pulled out a pointer from her pocket and opened the message from her seat. Clicking on it, she raised an eyebrow skeptically at the message. "Am I reading this right?"

Blackburn merely stared at the message for a few seconds before reading out loud, "You are invited to participate in the First Annual Gram Scale Tournament. It will be held on the Summer of 2003. The prize of this tournament will be this set of Regalia, The Rumble Regalia."

Dontores eye merely twitched at the audacity of his now 'former friend,' repeating Spitfire's earlier words, the tone of his voice mired in disbelief "What. The. Fuck."

Hearing Dontores speak with less words than usual, Naruto burst out laughing while Rika muttered, "The nerve of him." Shaking her head at the audacity by which Kilik had ended their conversation.

Seeing that there wasn't much need for him to stay there anymore, Blackburn got up, stretching, "What do you guys think?" he asked as he pulled out his phone to send a message to his wife.

"What do I think?" Naruto pondered, his fingers tapping restlessly on the shoulder of the couch, "I think it's up to Don." He said, turning to his friend. "I'm up for it if he's going to go for it."

Rika nodded in assent, snuggling deeper into the heat that Naruto consistently produced, "Same here."

Spitfire grinned widely, his arm making its way around Ine's shoulder, "At the very least, It'd be fun."

Ine placed her hand on Spitfire's "I'll join in as well." Seeing them look at her like she'd grown an extra head, she shrugged, "Tool Toul To may be neutral. But I, myself could join at least in the capacity of your Tuner. Hell, Simca may want to join in as well."

Seeing them all look at him, Dontores looked down at his hands, "This is a bit too much, guys." He said, turning to his friends, "You guys would really go for this?"

Blackburn walked up to his best friend, and punched him lightly on the shoulder, "Hell yeah, we would. You know that, Don. Best friends forever… Remember?"

Smiling gratefully, Dontores smiled back at the support that was presented, quickly facing Naruto, "What's the plan, boss?"

"Boss, huh…" Naruto mumbled to himself, remembering the last person to actually call him that, "Alright, first order of business," he declared, getting up and pulling Rika alongside him, "let's get some food." He shouted, pointing out the door and was quickly cheered on by the male members of the team.

Shaking her head at their antics, Rika nevertheless agreed with him, turning to Ine, "We'll discuss this once we've gotten some food."

Giggling, Ine nodded, shutting down her PC and grabbing her jacket, "You're right. As long as it isn't ramen though."

Rolling her eyes at the statement, Rika held the door open for Ine, "Tell me about it." She grumbled, "At the very least you only have to deal with Spitfire eating that much ramen. I have both Naruto and Mikan eating Ramen all the time."

* * *

**- Higachu Park -**

**_December 15, 2002 - 2:56 P.M._**

Several couples walked around in Higachu park, the white snow amusing and bringing forth those who wished to partake in it considering the usual lack of snowfall in the area. One particular couple consisting of a blonde haired boy with a pair of marks on his cheeks wearing a white windbreaker jacket that had dark maroon sleeves over t-shirt with the word 'WiN!' and a pair of blue jeans who walked with his arm around a red-haired girl that wore a dark green zipped up snowboarding jacket over a pair of cream-colored jeans, a dark brown scarf covering the lower half of her face.

Although she was used to walking around with him, especially on her dates, the girl seemed unable to stand the uncomfortable silence that emanated from the boy for the past couple days, making her finally turn to the boy in annoyance, pulling him to a stop by one of the numerous fountains in the park and asking him firmly, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Turning to her, he gave her an uneasy smile, "Do you think I did the right thing, Rika?"

Confused at his question, Rika tilted her head back, her scarf muffling her voice for a bit. "What are you talking about, Naruto?"

Sighing, he turned and swept the fountain's edge free of any snow and sat down, clearing the space beside him in order to both organize his thoughts and give her a place to sit. "Rika, do you remember what I'd told you about Rinta?" he asked, offering the now clean seat to her.

Raising an eyebrow at him and taking the pro-offered seat, she asked once again, "What brought this on, Naruto? You've been horrible the whole day. I thought you'd be happier once we'd gotten you set up with actual identification and records, Mr. Kazama Arashi."

Incapable of resisting a chuckle at her, he replied, "I guess. Honestly though, Rika… I'm just wondering exactly what the repercussions will be to this sort of thing."

Giving him a wide smile, visible to him even through the scarf, she stated proudly, "It doesn't matter, Naruto, we'll deal with it."

"What makes you so positive about this?" He asked, his eyes softening due to her confidence and the cute look she was sporting.

Giggling, she leaned into his side, prompting him to reflexively put his arm around her once again, something he'd come to do automatically since she loved it, "I guess I'm just happy, Naru-kun. Not only do we have you set up as an actual citizen and stuff, but you're coming to class with me."

Pouting at that, he grumbled, "Tell me about it."

Shaking her head at his still present resistance to coming to a college with her, she whispered, "I'm just glad that we can, you know, officially date."

Raising an eyebrow at that statement, he questioned, "So, these past few months weren't real?"

"They were, but…" she paused, trying to find the words, "All this time, I wondered exactly what was going to happen in the future. What kinds of stuff we'd have to do to support ourselves other than the money we would get from Mom and Dad's businesses. But… that…"

Finally seeing where she was going, he finished playfully, "I'll be able to do something with my life?"

"No! I mean, yes, but-." She stammered, failing to come up with the exact words she wanted.

"I understand, Rika-chan." He interrupted, nudging her head with his, "You're just worried how the world will see us, how they'll view us taking care of your sisters and Ikki."

Giving a firm nod, she asked, "How'd you work that out, anyways?" she asked, "You're not exactly the most… studious person, you know?"

Letting out a nervous chuckle, he replied, "Yeah… Ine-chan and Spitfire kinda jumped in one day and scolded me." Hearing her laugh at his misfortune, he couldn't help but laugh along, "I know… but I guess after all of the time I spent training and being tested… I wanted a little vacation, you know?"

"Yeah." She answered, leading into a few minutes of comfortable silence, only broken by whispers about how cute they looked from some of the older couples, making her blush and snuggled deeper into her boyfriend.

"You didn't answer me exactly, you know?" Naruto said from out of the blue. "about Rinta and the situation with the Gram Scale Tournament."

Sighing, she tilted her head to look him in the eye, "What exactly is the problem, Naruto? Sure, you're going to be doing this thing… but simply by being there even if you don't participate, you've already affected people's reactions and stuff."

"Hmm?" he prodded, focused on her words.

"You know… just by being there, with Blackie, Don and Spitfire, they pulled themselves together and decided to do this thing." She stated, "Hell, who knows what would have happened had you not allowed me to get there in time in the first place."

"But-!" he tried to protest, only to be quickly slapped at the back of his head, "What was that for?" he asked indignantly.

"That's for being stupid." She declared, staring him down, which was quite an accomplishment considering her head was at a lower position than his.

"Huh?" he asked eloquently.

"Exactly." She smirked, "Don't think about that sort of stuff too much, Naru-kun. True, things might happen, but do you know what allows me to let it go?" she asked, her tone getting quieter but more forceful in the end.

Shaking his head in response, he honestly replied, "No."

"You." She whispered, poking him in the chest.

"Me?" he asked, unconvinced, "How could I do that?"

"Silly boy," she teased, "By merely being here, I know that whatever happens you'll be there. And if something happens, you'll be with me, at my side… or wherever we need to be, Naru-kun."

Biting his lip, he looked down at her. Her eyes, the green orbs that shined with mirth, love and determination in a way that pulled him in, conveying what she felt, making finally understand what she saw. "I get it." He said, leaning forward, pulling her scarf down in order to get to her lips. _'She's right._' He thought to himself, _'I can't think of everything. I sure as hell can't prepare for everything. But that doesn't mean I couldn't try. And if something happened…'_ he trailed off as she wrapped her tongue around his, dragging him into a fierce lip lock that soon left them both out of breath. _'I'm going to do whatever I can to take care of it.'_ He finished, a focused look coming into his eyes.

Seeing that particular gleam, she grinned, licking her lips to take care of any residue from their kiss, 'Finally,' she thought, as her grin grew wider, "Good," she declared, standing up and drawing his attention, "Now, for this you owe me a date."

"What!" he asked, getting up as well, "How do I owe you?" he prodded, confused.

"I've had to stand you being so mopey and 'emo,'" stated, her voice taking on a whiney tone at the word 'emo.' "for three days, Naru-kun." Seeing him flabbergasted, she huffed and turned around, quickly setting a march straight back to their home, "For that, you owe me two."

Stunned, his jaw slack at her actions, he watched her until she took a turn at the next path, "What the hell?" he muttered, dusting the seat of his pants before he took off after her, ignoring the chuckles that the older couples were being afflicted with, "That was unexpected." He murmured, before a wide, untroubled grin adorned his face for the first time in the last couple of days. "Oi, Rika!" he called out, catching her attention, "Where do you want to go then?"

"Hmm..." she thought, before she remembered the name of a restaurant that they hadn't been to in a while. She waited for him to come to a stop before she replied. "There's Lotteria, we haven't been there in months, Naru-kun."

An "Oh." was his response.

"Oh!" she asked him, her temper quickly rising. "What's wrong with that place?" she inquired, "You asked me, that was my answer."

"I didn't mean it like that!" he quickly amended, scratching the back of his head, "I just thought you'd want to go somewhere more fancy or something."

Her anger abated, she giggled, taking his hand in both of hers and quickly pulling him along in the direction where she knew there was a Lotteria, "It doesn't have to be."

"But I was all 'emo' !" he countered. "I mean, if you were, I would have asked for something a bit different."

Shaking her head at him, she came to a stop near a cross-way that exited the park before she let go of his hands, "Naru-kun... you know me. I'd rather not waste money, you know?" she scolded him, reminding him of her thrifty ways, which she had gotten from her parents and were only magnified after their death.

Flashing her an apologetic smile, he nodded, "Alright, Rika. I hear you, loud and clear."

"But if it's an important event, I expect you to go all out, okay?" she asked, giving him a cheeky smile.

"Of course, Rika-chan. The very best for my rose." he agreed. Hearing clapping, they noticed some older couples that were around the area. "Ahh, sorry about that!" he apologized quickly, unconsciously taking Rika's hand in his.

"What's there to be sorry for?" an elderly woman asked, laughingly, "We're just happy there's love like that still present these days."

"Well, umm, thank you?" he said confusedly, scratching the back of his head while Rika leaned closer to him.

"Mmmhmm." her friend agreed, "See, they're so cute together," she chortled, pointing at their joined hands and their closeness, setting the young couple blushing.

"Ahh, thank you, but we'll be going now, I guess..." Rika stated, both nervous and pleased at all the attention before she started to pull Naruto away with her, "Bye!"

"But wait!" Naruto protested, "They were talking to us!"

"No, we're going to be late." She said in response.

"Late for what?" he asked as they reached the other side of the street. Seeing that she wasn't stopping, he looked back and waved at the old ladies, calling out "Bye! Sorry for leaving so soon!" setting them laughing.

* * *

Deep within the recesses of Naruto's Mind, Baxter rolled his eyes at the conclusion of three days of angst. **'Finally'** he muttered, turning the Hokage's Chair around to look outside, **'It definitely would have sucked if he stayed like that any longer.'** he chuckled, seeing the rain finally stop. Standing up, he stretched, eyeing the windowsill before shaking his head to walk down to the records department. The kit would be coming in here eventually to look at what they could do to prepare for such an… interesting event. It wouldn't do to be unprepared after all.

* * *

**- Chapter 10: End -**

* * *

**- Post-Chapter Author's Notes: -**

_**!AIR GEAR SPOILER ALERT!**_

So, yeah... the past few issues of Air Gear... hmm. They depress me somewhat, considering the amount of shit I now have to wade through in order to decide whether or not to add shit to my story. I mean, the introduction of Blackburn, or Black Burn as he's also called... was ridiculous. He beats up his own kid ; P lol... jk, well, not really considering that shit really happened. But anyways... he looks... interesting and calls himself the 'Hanged Man.'

Anyways, Buccha isn't so fail no mores! I mean, the whole Sucking in water is ridiculous. Don't forget the ridiculous sized legs as well, but meh . I'm still glad he isn't ZOMG!FAILZ! anymore. A feeling I get whenever I read other people's awesome FanFics (looks to the side, *sniffs*) But anyways... This will get an update, unless I die. Which shouldn't be possible as I always look both ways before crossing the street as well as stop on all the stop signs. So probably the only way I'll stop writing real soon is if a meteor jumps down from the sky and grants me wishes or gives me superpowers. (looks outside and sees somewhat clear sky) But that didn't happen. So you will see an update. BELIEVE IT!

Believe in the you, who believes in the me that believes in the me that writes the me stuff on Fanfiction. So there! I will write. Expect update sometime in March... cuz I'm not sure If I can finish a chapter before teh months' done. Have homework and projects to do.

Oh yeah, Look up Alienware Commercial 2010 - M11x on that you tube thing… that shit cracks me up.

Not sure what else to put down... Thanks for reading, reviewing, alerting, favoriting or heck, just clicking on my pages!

**Thanks for reading, **

**-Margulide**


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